


I fanned the fire then I knew that you were wild

by Erizee



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Angst, Arkham Asylum, Day 3: Arkham, Ed Is Oblivious, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, I tried my best, M/M, Murder Husbands, Nygmobbelpot Week 2017, Plans, Questionable methods of therapy, Slow Burn, So Many Plans, kinda slow burn, oswald is brainwashed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-05 19:37:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10315502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erizee/pseuds/Erizee
Summary: "Don't bring me back to the others, please! No!"It wasn't the words that caught Ed's attention. That was nothing new. Just another inmate crying for help that he wasn't going to get. The man's voice however was completely different. It was hoarse and cracked halfway through the first word, but there was a strengh hidden behind it that made Ed want to know who it belonged to.He risked a quick look out of his cell and saw a small man with black hair that was being dragged by two guards. His face looked absolutely devastated and his eyes shone with unshed tears and unexpressed emotions. It seemed like the guy was holding something back, something Ed was desperate to see the moment he first laid eyes on the man's small frame.What if Edward and Oswald met in Arkham for the first time? What if Edward was determined to turn Oswald back into the feared criminal he once was? What if they developed a friendship born out of necessity that might become something more?(This is my part for the nygmobblepot week 2017)





	1. Bird Watching

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo this is my first fanfic on here..... I hope it's not too bad, but please tell me if I did anything wrong or if I made any mistakes.  
> The title is from Heart is Full by Miike Snow, I can't get it out of my head  
> (I'm so nervous tbh)  
> I hope you enjoy! :)

Edward Nygma couldn't sleep. The cannibal in the cell next to him was talking to himself again, and even though Ed had been in Arkham for a month, almost as long as the man next to him had, he still couldn't get used to it. The cannibal was whispering of tearing his wives' neck open with his teeth and other horrendous things Ed didn't want to think about any more. He wasn't innocent, far from it, but at least his victims had died fast.

The door at the end of the cellcorridor opened and Ed scurried away from the door quickly. If the guards caught you awake at night, chances were they would use electroshocks until you fell unconscious. That always depended on the guard on duty.

"Don't bring me back to the others, please! No!"

It wasn't the words that caught Ed's attention. That was nothing new. Just another inmate crying for help that he wasn't going to get. The man's voice however was completely different. It was hoarse and cracked halfway through the first word, but there was a strengh hidden behind it that made Ed want to know who it belonged to.

He risked a quick look out of his cell and saw a small man with black hair that was being dragged by two guards. His face looked absolutely devastated and his eyes shone with unshed tears and unexpressed emotions. It seemed like the guy was holding something back, something Ed was desperate to see the moment he first laid eyes on the man's small frame.

-

The next day started exactly the same as every other. A guard opened his cell, led him to the rec room and locked the door behind him. As usual, Ed was one of the last inmates to be led here.  
The sheer mediocrity of the morning was almost enough to let Ed believe the man he had seen the night before had been just a figment of his imagination, like his murderous doppelganger had been.

Almost.

Refusing to believe someone like that had been just a hallucination, he started sweeping the room with his eyes, looking for the black haired man. Black hair wasn't anything special among Arkham's inmates, which made his search considerably harder. Eventually he had to give up and sat down, gloomily eating his breakfast.

The door opened a few more times, but Ed couldn't muster up the interest required to look up. The only people that came in after him were some seriously messed up people, like serial killers who killed more people than Ed knew or people who blew up half of Gotham's buildings. The cannibal in the cell next to him was one of those people. There was no way _he_ would be one of them.

"I'm sorry, can I sit there?"

Ed looked up, prepared to tell whoever  
disrupted his internal monologue with himself to shove their head down a toilet full of piranhas, but his words got stuck in his throat.

It was the man from the night before.  
His hair that was now plastered to his head was a deeper shade of black Ed had thought.

"I-I'm sorry, I.. I'll go"

"No, wait."

The man turned around, glancing at his sleeve, which Ed held in a death grip. He quickly let go.

"You can sit here."

He smiled happily and sat down across from Ed. His wide smile was a bit unsettling but it was nothing compared to an insane cannibal's whispers at night.

He started eating his breakfast and paid no mind to Ed, who was still staring at him.

"Uhm.. who are you?"

Ed wanted to slap himself for asking something like that. Most of the inmates didn't like or didn't understand questions like that and got aggressive or started crying and Ed wasn't in the mood for another talk with the director. Just because this guy seemed more calm and collected than most others didn't mean he could handle a conversation.

Contrary to Ed's thoughts, the man just smiled again and answered calmly, though his voice was still very hoarse.

"I'm Oswald, who are you?"

Ed blinked but collected himself enough to answer.

"Edward. Nygma."

The man- no, Oswald took his hand and shook it quickly, his smile never once faltering.

"Nice to meet you Edward Nygma. What are you in for?"

-

Two hours later the group therapy started. Until then, Ed had told Oswald about his failed plan to get his former friend and colleague into jail and had had a hard time connecting the small, friendly man in front of him to the infamous Penguin that had taken the power over Gotham's underworld by force and by commiting countless murders. The newspapers had never shown the man's face, but in Ed's imagination he had always been a huge, buff man with muscles bigger than Ed's head instead of a tiny bird-like man with a pointy nose and a limp. Well, at least now the name made more sense.

The Professor never attended the therapies personally. Usually he sent some unfortunate psychotherapist who made everyone talk about a dream they recently had. If it was a special day, Miss Peabody came and made them do real therapy. She managed to get inside Ed's head like no therapist had before and he hated it. He liked being unpredictable and he liked it when no one knew what he was thinking. How was he supposed to be smarter than everyone else when a simple therapist could tell him what he was thinking?

For some reason, Oswald, who still stayed close to him, seemed outright distressed at the thought of therapy. Ed didn't ask him what was wrong and he didn't have to. He had seen many extremely strong and violent inmates go to.. "special" therapies and return absolutely terrified. It simply made sense that Oswald had gone through something similar, especially considering how late he had been brought into the rec room.

Today was not a special day. One of the normal therapists came in and made everyone present sit in a circle. It took longer than usual; two of the inmates were arguing about a piece of candy when she came in.

Even though today's therapist looked unthreatening and obviously inexperienced, Ed could see Oswald shivering next to him. Not sure how to calm him down or if that was even a smart thing to do, he gently nudged his arm. "She won't do anything, don't worry."

Oswald reacted better than Ed expected. He just smiled and nodded. But still, his smile remained dull and empty.

After calming the two arguing women down, the therapist adjusted her gloves and made everyone sit down.

"Why don't you start, Jennifer? I'm sure we would all like to know how you feel today."

Jennifer started giggling and told the therapist about her day. It was the same boring routine everyone had but the therapist nodded and smiled nontheless. Ed almost had to admit she was good.

Like always, he was strategically seated at the right side of the person most likely to talk first, which made him the last one to talk. He preferred it when no one paid attention to his private thoughts anymore, since he couldn't get away with lying or withholding things here. He hated to admit it, but the actual psychiatrists knew what they were doing. 

"How about you, Oswald? I don't think I've seen you with us before."

"O-oh, I've been only here for a few days, I had private therapy with Professor Strange before."

Even though most patients were sunk in their seats and didn't pay attention, a multitude of heads snapped up at the mention of the Professor's name. A part of Ed cursed Oswald with everything he had. Now the attention of the room was fixed on the blackhaired man and, since Ed sat right next to him and was the next to talk, on Ed. The other part wondered what made this poor guy so special, special enough for the infamous Professor Strange to have private therapy with. The professor did talk to every new 'patient' as soon as they were settling, but he never actually did any therapy. So why was Oswald different? The whole Penguin-thing couldn't be all of it. Most of the inmates had an extremely criminal past, and while they weren't the head of Gotham's underworld, many of them were known by name by some people in very high places. Ed could see the others were thinking something similar.

"Would you like to talk about those private therapies?"

Ed could almost see Oswald's mind flinching along with his body.

"D-do I have to? I-I mean I can b-but uhm-"

"It's okay Oswald. You don't need to say anything that makes you uncomfortable. Is there something else you might want to share?"

He shook his head and forced a smile.  
She nodded and focussed her attention on Ed instead. With a quick glance at everyone else he started talking, relieved that the others were back to talking to themselves and drawing pictures into the air with their fingers.

-

"I hope I don't interrupt?"

Ed's head swiveled around to stare at Miss Peabody who had entered the room in the middle of second round.

The therapist smiled, hiding her pained expression underneath it. She was clearly just as scared of this woman as most of the patients were. It didn't surprise Ed, she truly was a terrifying woman to those beneath her. 

"Not at all Miss Peabody. Can I help you with something?"

"I was hoping to talk to you for a second. The Professor wants an.. update on some of the patients mentality." Her pointed glare in Oswald's general direction made clear who she was talking about

The therapist nodded and smiled again. She left the room after telling everyone to "occupy yourselves". 

Ed kept himself as close to the bars as possible without being obvious and tried to hear anything they said.

"How does our new inmate behave himself?"

"Oswald? He's very sweet, it almost seems wrong to lock him up in here.. But if you say he should stay, then you're right, of course" she quickly added after Miss Peabody sent her a vaguely threatening look through her glasses that sent shivers down Ed's back.

"So nothing noteworthy? No anomalies? No conspicuities?"

"No, Ma'am. He is very calm and gentle. He even seems to have found a friend already!"

Ed could feel Miss Peabody's sharp look without seeing it.  
"Is that so."

"Uh.. yes, they were sitting together when we were talking about our day. Whenever Oswald had a problem, Edward calmed him down."

Ed quickly turned around and stared at the two patients slow dancing in the middle of the room with such an intensity he wondered if they could physically feel it.

As soon as he realised Miss Peabody had left, he let out a deep breath and leaned against the wall. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid. Of course they would notice, of course they would use it against him. He had to be careful who saw him talking to Oswald, or the Professor and his terrifying assistant would make them both pay for it. He didn't even consider avoiding the small man. He was to interesting to ignore. 

"A-are you alright?"

It was Oswald again. He still wouldn't leave Ed's side. Keeping their.. relationship under the radar of Strange and Peabody would be harder than he thought. He quickly nodded and got back to his seat just in time to see their therapist enter the room again, visibly shaken and slightly intimidated. He almost pitied her.

"Alright guys, who was the last one to tell me about their dream last night?"

-

The day endes as uneventful as it had begun, making it seem like the whole day had just been a very complicated and elaborate hallucination. Which.. wouldn't actually surprise Ed. 

He was pushed into his cell and struggled to fall asleep while his neighbor started whispering again. Tonight he seemed calmer than usual, which was somewhat reassuring. Maybe tonight Ed would be able to get some sleep for once.

That hope quickly proved unfruitful when he heard a voice in the cell at his other side.

"Don't hurt her, please let her go, stop hurting her, she hasn't done anything wrong."

It went on like that for what felt like hours until it finally stopped. Ed could only assume it had been Oswald who had been muttering the words. Whispered words always sounded slightly different from normal ones but his voice was very recognisable.  
Ed would have cursed his luck of now sharing a corridor with the guy he would have to try to avoid a little from now on if he hadn't been so relieved at not sharing it with another cannibal.

Even though there was no reason to care and even though it didn't affect Ed in any way, he couldn't help but wonder who "she" was. Too bad he wouldn't be able to ask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you might want to know, my tumblr is erizee (if anyone knows how to do links, please tell me)  
> The shippy part starts soon, don't worry  
> Tell me if this was okay or if you even liked it, I'm a sucker for constructive criticism ;)


	2. Salt and Fabric

"Hey, Oswald? Do you remember yesterday night? We share a corridor."

Oswald's default smile started up again. It was too fake for Ed's liking. Void of emotion and thought and.. anything really. 

"We do? I didn't notice!" Ed ignored his words.

"You were whispering about a 'she', who is that?"

Oswald stopped smiling. He frowned deeply and his eyes started glinting. Not from tears, at least not from what it looked like. It looked like something was threatening to come to the surface, something dark and threatening. 

Before Ed could take a closer look at it, it was burried again under layers and layers of whatever these people had been doing to Oswald in those private therapy sessions. His eyes began to dim down again and his smile came back with renewed force. 

"Oh, that was my mother. She.. it hasn't been easy for her."

"Yeah, I could tell."

In Ed's mind a hundred cogwheels were turning. What could possibly have happened to Oswald that made him hide who he really was underneath that happy demeanour and dim eyes? What could have possibly turned the Pengiun, the man feared throughout all of Gotham, into this mess of a person? What could possibly cause such a huge step backwards in Oswald's personality?

It wasn't his place to wonder and if the situation were different he probably wouldn't care at all, but this was.. different, somehow. What Ed had seen of Oswald's true nature in that small moment was enough to keep him interested for months. He would find out what happened, no matter the cost.

-

Ed thanked whatever kind of deity might exist that it took only a few days that he spent talking to Oswald as little as possible and resolving a couple of arguments between the patients before finally a therapist of the more secretive kind took them over. Of course he would still tell Miss Peabody everything noteworthy that happened, but this one could at least be trusted with some details, if only because he couldn't care less about his patients' problems.

After the group therapy Ed approached him cautiously.

"Doctor Thomas? Can I ask you a question?"

The therapist looked up to Ed, feigning interest in what he had to say.

"I was thinking.. I always wanted to be a psychotherapist when I was younger, so I thought.." He threw in a few giggles for good measure "I thought maybe you could tell me how you can change someone's personality."

Unfortunately that did peak the therapist's interest.  
"Well.. it takes a lot of time.. you need to make the patient associate things they previously thought of as positive with negative impulses and all that.. Why do you ask? Who's personality do you want to cange?" His face twisted into what was probably supposed to be a smug smirk, but it just looked stupid. 

"N-no one! I was just wondering.. Why, can you do _other_ things with therapy?" Ed decided to just play dumb. It hadn't worked out so well in the past and he hated acting like his intelligence wasn't one of the highest in the building (if not the highest), but in this case it just seemed like it was the smart thing to do.

According to the doctor's face that was shifting back into apathy it worked. He left without answering Ed's question.

"Negative association huh.. I can't believe I didn't think of that myself.."

"Of what didn't you think yourself?"

Ed jumped out of his seat, ready to run away from whoever was attacking him, but he relaxed when he saw it had only been Oswald. For some reason he was still following him around like an awkward kitten. 

"Nothing important." He quickly changed the topic and drowned out Oswald's babbling, deep in thought. How could he return the Penguin to his former state? Should he even be thinking about that? If Oswald was really the Penguin and if he really was as impulsive as the newspaper and the people close to those who he had acted out his revenge against were saying, Ed had no way of predicting how he'd react to someone poking around in his brain, even if it was done with relatively good intentions. He couldn't count on Oswald's rationality, there obviously was a reason he was stuck in Arkham.

"Ed are you listening to me?"

He nodded, realizing Oswald had asked him a question. "I'm sorry Mr. Penguin, what did you say?"

Oswald sighed but there was no malice in his eyes. Ed was almost disappointed.

"I told you not to call me that. It... it's not really who I am, anymore."  
Ed nodded absentmindly and tried not to be too frustrated. It would work out sooner or later. 

-

During the last meal of the day Ed made his decision.

He couldn't let the person he knew Oswald used to be and could be again be irreparably destroyed by some admittedly very dedicated therapists. He couldn't let this chance for himself pass. He couldn't let this possible ally in his escape plan die in here.

So far all Ed had was the routine the guards had during the day and some patients that sort of liked him. The idea of having another ally, one with a rather impressive knowledge of how to handle threats was too tempting to ignore.

Plus there was always the personal interest Ed had in the smaller man. He hadn't had a real friend who didn't just use him for their own gains in ages, if not forever, and Oswald seemed to like him. Of course, that didn't mean he still would after he got back to normal and after they would have escaped Arkham, but some things just needed to be risked in order to gain something better. 

He gently nudged the smaller man who was swallowing down his food with barely disguised disgust. "Oswald? Can I talk to you?"

The smaller man smiled his signature smile and waited for Ed to start talking.

"Did.. did I tell you how I came here? Before my plan, I mean. Why I had to make it up in the first place."

Oswald shook his head and stared at Ed with unbridled interest.

Ed mustered up the courage to talk about it. He loved an audience, especially if it was as fascinated as Oswald, but he didn't like giving out personal information. In order to get Oswald to talk about himself it seemed necessary, so Ed tried to focus on the plan.

"I.. I killed my girlfriend. On accident!", he quickly added, worried the smaller man would react like any sane person would after a sentence like that, but Oswald just continued to smile and stare. Ed almost laughed at the way he thought anyone in here apart from himself could be sane.

"We were at my apartment and.. I was such and idiot, I told her I had killed her ex-boyfriend because he hit her and she called me a psychopath and wanted to tell the police and I couldn't let her do that so I tried to talk her out of it but then my hand was at her neck and-"

A warm hand on top of his own cut him off. Ed looked up at Oswald, who was still smiling, though now with a more sincere and compassionate expression.

"It's okay. I won't judge you."

Ed calmed his breathing and then continued, his hand still underneath Oswald's.

"I strangled her without even noticing. I told her I loved her and let her go to see her reaction and she.." Oswald's grip tightened reassuringly "She was just.. sliding down the wall and staring at me and her eyes were so expressionless.. like coloured glass."

He felt something cold roll down his cheek before he could prevent and he quickly wiped it away.

"I killed her Oswald. That's why I'm here. I had to make up a plan to frame the detective that was after me so I could stay out of jail and where did that get me? Into _Arkham_." The last word sounded more like a curse than anything else.

Ed felt more like he saw how bad Oswald felt for him. Strangely enough it didn't seem like Oswald was pitying him. Pity felt like being looked down upon, but whatever Oswald was doing helped Ed calm down somehow. It was strange.

"It's okay. You can't change what happened, but you can try to change yourself. Don't worry, it will become easier."

Even though Oswald's word reflected the words of every therapist Ed had talked to since he was brought to Arkham like they were burned inside his brain with a hot iron, his eyes emitted so much care and compassion and _e_ _motion.._

Ed couldn't help but calm down.  
Ed couldn't help but smile.

"Maybe you should be the shrink Oswald. You're pretty damn good at calming people down."

Another tear rolled down his cheek, but before Ed could catch it he felt a warm hand wiping it away.

He stared at Oswald with wide eyes. Ed was not a complete stranger to physical contact, he had had a girlfriend after all, but Oswald touched him with such ease Ed felt a little overwhelmed. With Kristen, any physical contact had been short and without passion or intimacy. Even their night together had felt more like satisfaction than actual happiness.

All Oswald was doing was touching Ed's cheek and wiping away his tear with his sleeve, but even this oddly motherly gesture still felt more intimate than even Ed's single night with Kristen.  
Was this what actual friendship felt like? Ed couldn't tell, his only "friend" so far had been Detective Gordon, and that hadn't worked out as swimmingly as Ed might have hoped one day.

The proceeding of their, for a lack of a better word, relationship felt way too fast to call it friendship. They knew each other for no longer than a few days and all they had done was talk about.. things, and even though it had been oddly easy to tell a virtual stranger and an infamous criminal who used any information he could get to his own advantage about a traumatic moment in his life, Ed couldn't let himself forget who this man was. It was dangerous to share too much and it was dangeroud to trust. But still, he couldn't help but like this odd man.

It took Oswald quite a while to realise Ed had stiffened and was staring at him confusedly, but as soon as he did he quickly retracted his hand and burried his head between his shoulders. His hair, even thought it was falling into his face today, did a poor job of hiding his reddened cheeks.

-

Only after the guards had brought everyone back to their cells Ed realised he hadn't asked Oswald about his mother. But even though he had wasted that perfect oppotunity of setting his plan in motion and even though he had shared a piece of crucial and personal information with a mob boss, he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think please!


	3. Loyalty

The next days went by in a bit of a blur.  
Every morning Ed would get up, be led into the rec room, spend his day talking to Oswald about useless and completely irrelevant things and hiding his true feelings from the therapists and go to bed.

Now that Oswald was his cell neigbor, falling asleep had become considerably easier. Though the smaller man's mind and how to crack it consumed Ed's dreams, his quiet whispering drowned out any words his other neighbour uttered. It was oddly pleasant, in a way.

Oswald hadn't tried to talk to him during the night once. Whether it was out of fear of what the guards might do if he disobeyed or out of exhaustion or out of his dislike for Ed's company, Ed didn't really care. He sure hoped it wasn't the third one, but though he wouldn't hold it against him after being mistreated way worse for years by his colleagues and before that by his family, it didn't seem likely.

In this state Oswald had problems disguising even the tiniest bit of emotion he was feeling. His face was like a canvas, twisting and changing with every new emotion the small man felt. Contrary to what Ed had first thought, he wasn't void of emotion, he just always drowned them behind months of what had most definitely been psychological torture. Even lying seemed to be impossible for him, their talks during the day had proved that.

They never talked about Miss Kringle or something equally upsetting again, neither about Ed's experience with cruelty nor Oswald's. Even after weeks of slowly becoming the smaller man's friend, he still wouldn't share anything about his mother that wasn't "she used to make maccaroni for breakfast when I was sick" or "she was a beautiful woman".

Ed couldn't help but enjoy their little talks, but he could feel the guards' eyes on him every time he nudged his friend and every time they smiled at each other he could hear the footsteps of a guard delivering long awaited news to the Professor and his assistant.

He couldn't wait any longer. If he didn't start introducing Oswald to his own former self and in conclusion his plan now, the danger of being caught by the Professor would become almost inevitable.

"So then she pushed me down the stairs and I shouted bad things at her so I got detention for a week but it's okay because I know she was just having fun and-"

"Can I tell you something Oswald? You need to keep it a secret though."

Oswald nodded eagerly and Ed asked himself if he would have reacted so calm to being interrupted if his mind hadn't been messed with. "You can tell me anything Ed! Your secrets are safe with me!"

"I-"

Before he could continue, two guards entered the room. "Oswald Cobblepot? The Professor requests your company."

Ed could almost physically feel Oswald's fear by just looking at his face. He reached out to him but the guards dragged him away, off to some place Ed couldn't see.

With a jolt he realised Oswald was being dragged in the same direction all these inmates that hadn't returned had been led to.  
Ed tried to help him in some way, any way, but he just ended up shouting his name until after he vanished behind the corner.

-

The next hours were the worst torture Ed had had to endure during all of his stay at Arkham so far. He started pacing after what felt like an eternity but probably was just a few minutes. He ignored the odd looks he got from some of the more sane patients and went over theories about Oswald's wellbeing in his head, one more terrifying than the other, until the hours bled into each other and Ed lost all sense of time.

He didn't understand why he cared so much. Oswald might have been nice to him and Ed might even go so far as to actually call him his friend, but he was technically just a pawn in his escape plan. No one had been able to distract Edward Nygma as much as Oswald was. He felt sick with worry and couldn't get the picture a broken and bruised Oswald out of his mind, his cheecks wet with tears and his throat raw from screaming his lungs out.

Ed couldn't take it any more. He needed to know if Owald was okay, and god help those responsible if he wasn't.. He didn't care why he cared, but he knew he did, and that was enough for Ed.  
The door opened with a loud creak and Ed's head snapped up to see who was entering.  
It was some young girl with blond hair.

"Where is he? Is he okay? What are you doing to him??"

Ed held the door open with his foot before the guard bringing the girl in could slam the door shut. "Don't you dare hurt him! He's a better person than all of us, he's a better person than all of you! Let him go!" He hit the guard in the face, but two others held him back before he could punch the information he needed out of him.

"Let me go you need to let him go, he can't-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt the prick of a syringe at his neck and felt his muscles give in. "Don't worry Mr. Nygma. You and Mr. Cobblepot are in good hands."

Ed used all his willpower to raise his hands in a futile attempt at strangling Miss Peabody until she would tell him where Oswald was. She slapped his hands away and smiled her best 'pretending-to-care' smile. "I would not do that if I were you. We are just trying to help."

His vision faded to black and he could feel the last feeling in his fingers vanish.

-

"Wake up Mr. Nygma."

Ed forced his eyes to open and blinked into the bright light of a flashlight being held to his right eye.

"Where am I what... what happened?"

"We had to restrain you before you ended up.. hurting someone. Good personel is hard to find these days. Don't move yet." Ed tried to stand up, but two leather straps on his amrs prevented any attempts of movement.

"What have you done to Oswald??"

"Nothing illegal, I assure you. We are merely taking care of him and trying to cure him. So far his therapy has worked wonders, I am sure he'll soon be a productive member of society again."

Ed grit his teeth and swallowed everything he wanted to throw at this madman. He was more insane than anyone else at this facility.

"Now now, don't look at me like that. I'm sure that if we talk it out, we can find an option that we can both benefit from."

Despite Ed's unrelenting anger and hate for this man, he couldn't deny how useful an offer like this might be. He nodded hesitantly, but continued to stare at Strange like he was the incarnation of eveything evil in the world. To Ed he was just that in that moment. "I swear I will kill you and destroy everything you stand for if you hurt Oswald. You will wish you never existed when I'm done with you."

Strange smiled and gestured Miss Peabody to release Ed, who stared at him now with less anger and more awe and disbelief. Was he really stupid enough to not restrain the man who was currently plotting several ways to murder him and get rid of the body, right after he admitted it??

"I'm sure you're trying to figure out a way to kill me, but I'd wait with that if I were you."

"And why is that?" Ed was boiling with anger. This guy's arrogance was cutting through Ed's carfefully build up confidence with a hatchet, leaving Ed defenseless and uncertain.

"You still haven't heard my offer Mr. Nygma. I can assure you it will be beneficial for the both of us, but especially you."

Ed forced himself not to scoff. He may have been angry and (if he was honest to himself), a little insane, but he wasn't a child. He opted for laughing instead.

"What do you think you can give me that would make me give up on wanting to kill you? What are you going to do, set me free?"

"Yes."

Ed's laughter died in his throat.

"What?"

"I am going to set you free Mr. Nygma. You will get a certificate to prove your sanity and you can return to Gotham as a free man. In return, you promise to never return to or talk about this facility and to never talk to Oswald Cobblepot again. Of course, if you refuse, I will have to resort to other.... methods."

Ed didn't know what to think.

Strange was a master liar and even though Ed had gotten some practice in reading people, Strange was a whole nother level. How could he believe a man like him? What kind of guarantee did he have that the deal would actually go over well for the both of them? And even if there was.. should he even think about accepting? He'd slap himself if he could. This was everything his partnership with Oswald was built on. He was only talking to him because of his knowledge of handling threats, everything that had happened during the last weeks was built on Ed's slowly developing escape-plan. If he accepted, he would get everything he worked for for so long, but... this man had been toruring his first friend for months and showed no signs of regret for it. Ed wasn't stupid, he knew friendships didn't develop that fast, but the way his thoughts had been twisted around Oswald dying just because he had been scared of therapy showed him letting Oswald be tortured here would help neither his conscience nor really fulfill his wishes. But still...

"So? What will it be Mr. Nygma?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooh drama ;D  
> I hope everything is still making sense and is not too out of character  
> You know it would help if you told me.. wink wink


	4. Trauma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for leaving kudos and commenting!! It makes my day every single time, I appreciate literally every single reaction to my writing :D

The second Ed entered the rec room after leaving Strange's office, he noticed Oswald, who was rocking forth and back in his chair, a terrified look and dried tearstains on his face.

When he saw Ed, he quickly stood up, waddling towards him as fast as his damaged leg allowed and hugged him forcefully. Before Ed could hug him back, he let go just as quickly and kept a careful distance between them, almost as if he didn't expect him to reciprocate.

"Are you alright Ed? I- they- Helzinger told me they took you and- I thought-" His voice broke before he could continue.

"I'm fine, Oswald, the professor just wanted to talk to me." Oswald looked relieved, but was still looking at Ed oddly, as if he was expecting him to break out into tears and scratch his face off. He couldn't exactly blame him after what he went through. "I'm more worried about you, what have they done to you??"

Oswald avoided eye contact and glanced at his feet ashamedly. "It was just another therapy session."  
Ed could see it was more than that, but before he could ask, Oswald smiled his empty smile again.

"What did the professor want to talk about? I'm sure you had a nice talk!"

Ed couldn't stand the empty look in his friend's eyes. His condition was worse than before. Before, he had been able to see glimpses of the infamous Penguin from time to time, but now Ed doubted it would happen as easily as before. That thought bothered him more than he would ever admit out loud. 

"He offered- it's nothing, it was just a nice talk." He forced himself to smile and swallowed any remark about that bastard who was destroying Oswald and bribing Ed into letting him continue doing so. 

"I'm not going anywhere Oswald." His friend practically radiated confusion, but Ed couldn't tell him. He couldn't tell him he had just chosen a life spent in Arkham trying to coax Oswald back into his old self over a life in freedom, a life with every opportunity to do whatever he wanted.

-

"You really would have let him go? You know he's dangerous, and he's also well-known. The GCPD is already suspicious of us, they would have noticed if you let him go."

Strange sighed, frowning disappointedly. "I have to honour a deal when I make one, Miss Peabody. He wouldn't have gotten far, of course. I can't say I'm surprised of Mr. Nygma's decision, but I was hoping he would be more cooperative."

He stood up and stepped in front of his desk.  
"I think we have found ourselves a new test subject. Mr. Nygma's condition is very interesting, not to mention his friendship with Mr. Cobblepot. He's the perfect test subject for substance 45a."

As Miss Peabody left the room, Strange smiled. As.. inconvenient Mr. Nygma's interruptions in his schedule for Mr. Cobblepot were, they also provided him with a perfect excuse to test a new substance he had developed month ago but never had the opportunity to try out. He couldn't wait for the testroom to be set up. 

-

"Oswald. Oswald please talk to me. Os-"  
Ed grabbed Oswald's shoulder, preventing him from rocking in his chair any longer.

He had been fine just a minute ago, they had been making fun of the guards currently being thrown food at by Norton and Helzinger, who were giggling like children, when suddenly Oswald's body seemed to freeze and he started mumbling something and staring off into the air.

He hadn't responded to anything Ed had said to snap him out of it, not even calling him "Mr. Penguin" had worked, and for some reason Oswald hated that. Or he would, if Strange hadn't drowned everything he was in ideals you tell children before they are old enough to think for themselves until he turned into something... something almost alien.  

When Ed grabbed him, his eyes regained some of their focus, but they were still fixed on something Ed couldn't see. His mumbling became louder and there were silent tears streaming down his face.

"Violence is bad, violence is bad, violence is bad, violence is-"

"Oswald, you're having an episode, I need you to calm down. You don't have to tell me anything, but if you don't calm down you might have a stroke"

Ed felt his voice rising more than he heard it. All he could hear was his friend's panicked mumbling and his own out-of-control-heartbeat. Despite knowing how incompetent most, if not all of Arkham's staff was, he screamed for help, desperately trying to do... _something_. No one around them moved, neither the patients nor the guards dared to say or do anything.

Somewhere inside Ed a tiny voice, probably his own darker self for the first time in months, told him he was overreacting, but he couldn't help it. Technically he knew how to act in a situation like this, but for some reason Oswald's panic and his tears seemed to shut off all coherent thoughts and reduced him to a scared child.

Ed's arms were wrapped around Oswald before he could help himself. He could hear someone gasp, but it was impossible to tell who it had been. Maybe it had been them both of them. Ed could feel Oswald's small frame shaking in his arms, but his mumbling finally stopped and turned into sobs. Ed almost cried when he felt two arms tentatively holding on to his back and he clung closer to his smaller friend.  
"Ed... thank you..." Ed nodded, lost for words.

  
"They made me kill her Ed. My mother."  
Ed let go of Oswald and looked at him quizzically, waiting for Oswald to continue.

"She... She was killed a while ago by-" he flinched "it doesn't matter who it was, but I couldn't save her and when the guards take me they... they make me kill her again and again and I can't-" he wiped away the tears that were threatening to leave his eyes and sniffed "I can't make it stop. I can't make them stop. I see her die every time and all I can think is, maybe if I hadn't done this or maybe if I hadn't killed that guy, she would still be alive."

He sobbed and and wiped at his tears again. "She always made sure I was proud of who I am and that I was confident of what I can do and that- She always supported me, no matter what happened. Even when.. even when she found out about all the awful things I have done. She was such a good person Ed."

Ed hugged him again, feeling Oswald crying against his shoulder.  
Now everything made sense. Ed grit his teeth and ground his nails into his palms, forcing himself to stay calm and not do anything stupid, like calling a guard into the room and beating him into a bloody pulp for what they were doing.

"They won't get away with this Oswald. I will make them regret everything they have done to you."  
"But, but Ed" Oswald let go of him and stared into his eyes, looking just as determined as Ed felt.  
"You can't hurt anyone. Violence leads to nothing but pain and suffering and I don't want to see any more people I lo-... care about get hurt because of me."

Ed felt his stomach doing a flip at Oswald's words. He blamed his anger and the way he forced himself to keep calm despite it and nodded reluctantly. He ignored the tiny voice in his head that laughed at him and his newfound sentimentality.

"Don't worry about me Oswald. I promise I won't hurt anyone, but please promise me you won't worry."  
Oswald nodded but it was reluctant enough that Ed knew he wouldn't keep his promise.  
He felt himself smile warmly before he realised he was doing it and couldn't bring himself to stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty short, but the next chapter will be a lot longer to make up for it!  
> Chapter 5 is already done, but I'll wait with posting it until I start chapter 7, in case I need to do some last-minute-changes. It should be up pretty soon though :)  
> I'm not a native speaker so I'm sorry for any grammatical mistakes, feel free to point out any errors I missed!


	5. Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your comments and kudos, they make me so damn happy :D

It didn't take Ed long to come up with a plan.   
Before promising Oswald he would make Strange and every one of his employees pay for what they had done, he had already had a vague idea and some possible allies he could use. He had already made a mental list of tools he would need and memorised the guards' routines, but now he was much more keen on escaping than before.

This night was pleasantly quiet. Oswald fell asleep barely an hour after the lights went out if the soft snoring from the cell next to his was any indication and even Ed's other neighbour seemed to have calmed down enough to not disturb the other patient's sleep, or in Ed's case, his plotting.

He still wasn't entirely sure how to aquire a needle or a similarly sharp object. Maybe he could ask Oswald to take one from Strange's office in his next therapy session...

"Oh come on, you don't really think he would do that do you?"

Ed gasped and turned to his hallucination self, who was leaning against the door, his features twisted into a smug grin.

"What are you doing here?? I thought-" he quickly lowered his voice as to not wake anyone, especially Oswald, up.   
"I thought you finally left."

His doppelganger broke out into a fit of laughter.

"Oh Eddie, you know I couldn't leave you. I mean, I literally can't because I'm your subconscious, but this is just too fascinating to miss anyway."

Ed breathed slowly and focussed on his plan. Would Oswald steal something for him if it meant freedom for the both of them? Ed knew he was scared to the point of terror of violence and with what these people were doing to him it was obvious why, but was stealing any different?

"Ugh, you know it isn't. Have you seen this guy? He'd sell you to the professor for even mentioning breaking out before you could even ask him."

"You don't know that. We're friends."

"Oh sure, because that means anything in this city. Remember how we're only here because of Jim Gordon, who is, by the way, another so-called friend of yours. Or was, anyway."

"Jim Gordon wasn't my friend and you know it. He used me. Oswald doesn't."

"And how can you be so sure about that? How do you know he's not acting? Or no!" He clapped and grinned at Ed's expression. "How do you know he  _can_ help you? You've seen the guy, he's barely a functioning human, let alone himself. Always crying about how 'violence is bad', as soon as you tell him you want to break out he'll tell on you and you know it."

Ed turned away, facing the wall to escape his darker self's accusing glances. "He won't. We- No, I am great at convincing people. He'll listen."

Fake-Ed just laughed and appeared in front of Real-Ed again, now sitting cross legged on his bed across from him.

"I can't exactly make you not ask him, but when it turns out I'm right, and it will, don't start crying. It would be so much easier if you just did what you're good at without depending on a little bird with broken wings."

"Shut up."

"I'm telling you, he will be your downfall. Hey, that pun wasn't even intended. I never cease to amaze myself."

"SHUT UP!"

"Quiet Nygma! People are trying to sleep here."

Ed forced down the urge to slap himself and murmured a tiny "sorry" to the guard giving him death stares through his cell door window. He turned back to the hallucination and glared at him.

"Aw come on. I'm not the one who lost it here. That was all you."

Ed shook his head in disbelief and wrapped himself up in his bedsheets, desperately trying to sleep. Staying awake was no use when this guy was around, distracting him and making others think he was crazy. He wasn't.

"If you're lucky your little friend hasn't even heard anything. Enjoy the time you have with him. It won't last."

Ed managed to fall asleep somewhere around 2am, oblivious to his worried cell neighbour.

-

The next day Halluciantion-Ed was gone again. Real-Ed had been waiting for him to appear and jeer at him all morning, but when he still didn't appear at lunch time, he finally managed to relax a little.

It didn't last.

After he had forced down the last bits of his pudding, two guards entered, warily keeping their distance from him but still close enough it was obvious who they had come for.

Ed ignored them as good as he could and tried to concentrate on Oswald, who was happily talking to Helzinger across the room. Ed didn't care much for that guy, his relationship with him could at best be described as rocky, but Oswald's cheerfulness, however fake it was, had found him a fast friend in the buff man.

Something tugged at his stomach as Ed watched Oswald laugh happily at one of Helzinger's astoundingly simple-minded jokes. He put it off as worry that Oswald wouldn't trust him enough to listen to his plan of breaking out because he paid more attention to the incredible dullness of Helzinger, but he couldn't put the notion aside it might be something else. He hated not being sure of something.

"Mr. Nygma? Hello?" The guards shared a meaningful glance at Ed's complete lack of interest in their presence.

"Mr. Nygma, you have a special therapy scheduled now. The Professor requests your company."

Ed's face snapped away from his friend, who was now telling his new.. _friend_ some story the bear-like man seemed to enjoy wholeheartedly, and fixed the guard who had spoken with a deadly glare.

"I don't care what that madman wants. Tell him to come personally if he wants to talk."

One of the guards sighed, the other took  something out of his pocked that looked suspiciously like a taser.

"We don't want any trouble here Nygma, and believe me, you don't either."

Ed swallowed thickly and stood up, letting the guards lead him down the hallway. While he was more than willing to fight the two guards to keep away from Strange, regardless of his... lack of physical strengh, being tased was incredibly uncomfortable, depending on the voltage it could even hurt incredibly. He wasn't in the mood for physical pain today.

The Professor was in an unusual cheerful mood today. Ed hadn't met him very often, but so far he had gotten the expression of a very serious, if pretty sarcastic physician and no matter how much he hated the man for what he had done, he had never given him any reason to think otherwise. Today he was practically beaming. It was unsettling.

"Mr Nygma! Just the man I've been waiting for. I have.. _very_ good new for you. I'm confident we have found the right kind of therapy for you and your condition. It will only take a few weeks, and after that you will be a free man again."

Ed stared at him in disbelief. He wasn't sick, and even if he was, no 'therapy' this madman could offer would do what it promised without also destroying who he was. Oswald had proved that.

"No thank you."

Strange chuckled. "I'm afraid you won't have a choice Mr. Nygma. You are here, in Arkham, because you were deemed insane by your lawyer, which means you are not responsible for your own actions and decisions. That hasn't changed."

The guards stepped closer to Ed, making it clear the conversation was over. He knew one of them still had a taser, so he quietly stood and followed them down the hallway, not without sending a murderous glare in Strange's direction, who just grinned, still scarily cheerful.

-

Even after months of staying at Arkham, there were still some areas of the asylum Ed hadn't visited. Most of those were reserved for the treatment of extremely violent patients, or just the the treatment of patients in general. Those group therapies with unexperienced newbies couldn't be called treatment, no matter how hard you tried.

This room was one of these areas.

It was huge and circular, with mirrors all around, even on the ceiling. Even the floor tiles were reflecting his face when he looked down. He wondered if some of them worked as windows for the Professor to watch him endure his little experiment. In the middle of the room there was a chair with an uncanny resemblance to one at a dentist's office, except this one had restraints for arms and legs in the form of short chains and a helmet with cables on it, presumably to mess his brain activity.

The guards that had stepped in after him strapped him to the table and left, leaving Ed with a dreadful feeling in his stomach and, for some reason, enough freedom for his arms and legs to move them almost normally.

"Are you comfortable Mr. Nygma?"

Ed searched the room for cameras or a speaker, but couldn't find any. All he could see was himself. Apparently his first suspicion had been right and at least some of the mirrors were the kind you would normally encounter in the interrogation room of the GCPD.

"Get on with it already. I don't have all day."

Another low chuckle could be heard through the invisible speakers.

"Oh I'm sure you do, but if you insist. Miss Peabody, would you be so kind?"

The speaker crackled and went silent. Not a second later Ed heard a soft hiss, followed by green mist filling the room. His eyes widened at the realisation that Strange had locked him up in a room that was slowly filling with an unknown gas, his hands unable to reach his face and protect his eyes or nose. It wasn't likely Strange would kill him like this, there were people who would notice, at least that's what Ed told himself, but the situation was still potentially lethal.

He laboured his breathing and screwed his eyes shut. Not all of the gas' effects could be averted, no matter what they were, but this way he could at least stall for time.

Soon the gas filled the whole room and Ed felt it's effects take over him. He felt every inch of his body relaxing and if the whole situation hadn't been this alarming he might have fallen asleep.

While his body was relaxed and scarily comfortable, his mind was racing. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't move his body, it felt too heavy, his eyes kept falling shut and the mirrors kept reflecting his face back to him.

He looked terrible. His glasses had slipped down his face without him noticing and were hanging from his nose. His eyes were red and puffy, his skin unhealthily pale.

Suddenly a loud noise behind him broke him out of his thoughts. Ed's head snapped to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on.

"Oh Eddie~"

It was his doppelganger again. His hands came down harshly on Ed's shoulders, making him flinch.

"What have you done this time that got you here~"

He talked with a sing-song voice and hit Ed again.

"You deserve all that happens to you. It's your fault this is happening. I'm only doing this because I love you."

His doppelganger's voice changed, from his own, to a woman's soft soothing, to a man's drunken drawl. The hands on Ed's shoulders grew bigger and fleshier, the nails cut short, the fingers dirty with dust from the mines.

Ed's breathing became faster and almost bordered on panicked, but he managed to keep himself as calm as possible in a situation like this.

_This isn't real, this isn't real, this is not real!_

"Don't you dare ignore me! I brought you into this world, I can take you out of it!" A slap hit Ed's face, this one much more forceful than the last.

"You dirty liar!"

This time it was a punch to the stomach. Ed's eyes snapped open and he stared into the glassy and bloodshot eyes of his father. His features were twisted in jealous rage.

In the mirrors Ed could see his own panicked expression and the tears threatening to run down his face, but even though he knew his father wasn't real, the fear was. The man wo had made Ed's life a living hell until he had been old enough for college raised his fist again. He brought it down on Ed's face over and over again, who curled himself up as tight as his shackles allowed. "This will teach you not to lie to me!"

Through half lidded eyes Ed could see his doppelganger laughing at him, flickering, dis- and reappearing, but his cold cackling never stopped and filled Ed's ears along with his father's raging shouts of "liar!"

As if that wasn't enough, another pair of hands appeared in the corner of Ed's eye. They were unhealthily pale and held his face still, the painted nails at the end of their thin and shaking fingers scratching at his face, leaving their marks.

"You brought this to yourself Eddie. Daddy's only doing this because he loves you, do you understand? He doesn't want to hurt you, Sweetie, but you leave him no choice."

His mother's voice was the calmest and it wasn't violent, but it still hurt the most. She hadn't been the one who got drunk every night and hit him until he cried himself to sleep, whispering riddles and wordplays to himself to forget what happened and would happen again the next evening, but she was the one who let it happen. She was the one who would throw a bag of ice at his feet when he was lying on the ground, his tiny body black and blue from his father's fists. She was the one who never once drank but still found excuses for letting her husband hurt her only child. She was the one who hurt Ed deeper than his father ever could.

The gas was still coming, the soft hiss from around him never stopped once. Ed tried to ignore everything that was happening in his head, but whatever gas it was, it didn't allow any kind of clear thinking.

"Stop it! Please!"

If Ed had been able to think properly he would have been shocked at how fragile his voice sounded. It cracked halfway through the middle and turned into a sob before Ed could even try to process what he was doing.

The speakers didn't answer. Instead, the hissing stopped for a second and then came back with renewed force, indicating a change in gas that was conveyed into the room.

After a few seconds the hallucinations started to clear out and Ed collapsed on the table, sobbing violently and cringing from pain that hadn't been physically inflicted on him.

As soon as his father flickered for the last time, a single guard entered the room, freeing Ed from his shackles and leading him out of the place that would haunt his nightmares for months.

-

"Did substance 45a have the desired effect, Professor?"

Strange nodded, still staring at the measurements of Mr. Nygma's brain. He had hoped for some small deviations from the norm, but the actual results were frankly astounding. Mr. Nygma had reacted way better than anticipated.

Strange turned to his assitant, practically beaming.

"I think we should transfer Mr. Nygma in a while, after a few more tests. His tolerance of substance 45a needs to be just a bit higher for the therapy I have in mind to have success."

Miss Peabody nodded and left, mentally rearanging her.. special patients in the basement so no one would be disturbed. Any deviations from the desired norm would falsify the tests' results.

-

Ed felt as if he was in a trance. He couldn't see where the guard was taking him, and frankly he didn't care anymore. His mind was filled with bloodshot eyes and painted nails and any sensation from outside of his body lost focus before being able be processed by his mind.

The guard shoved him into another room and shut the creaking door. Ed couldn't see the glances he got from his fellow inmates and he couldn't hear a certain someone shouting his name and shuffling towards him.

The first thing his brain really managed to process was warmth. There was warmth all around him, most prominently at his chest. His head tilted downwards and he involuntarily burried his chin and mouth in thick black hair. It smelled nice.

"I'm so glad you're back Ed. I didn't realise they were taking you until it was too late and then I didn't know what to do so I waited but you didn't show up again and.."

Oswald stopped himself and let go of Ed to look at his face. It was still very pale but not in the same way it had been back in the room. "Are you okay Ed?"

"..I-I guess.." Oswald beamed at him with much more intensity than usual and a warmth similar to the one that had freed him from his mind and had brought him back to the real world spread inside his chest along with an odd fluttering inside his stomach.

"What happened to you Ed? You look terrible."

Ed told his friend as much as he was comfortable with sharing, which was his hallucinations and what his parents had done to him, but not the intense fear he had felt. He still felt the aftermath of it.

Oswald remained silent through the whole story and only interrupted to gasp or look mortified.

When Ed was done neither of them looked at the other. Ed's eyes were trained on a stray piece of 'bread' on the floor while Oswald stared intently at the buttons on Ed's jacket. Neither of them said a word, until-

"I'll do it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the longest I've ever written, I hope you like it!


	6. Criminality

"I'll do it."

Ed's eyes snapped up to his friend's determined expression.

"..What?"

"I'll do it. Whatever it is you need me to do. I.. I heard you last night and.. I'll do it. I'm your friend Ed."

The warm feeling in Ed's chest burst into a full on inferno. Even though Oswald had no idea what Ed would ask him to do and what it was for, even though he now knew of Ed's hallucinations and his sickness, he was still willing to help him, just because they were friends.

It was overwhelming. 

"Are you sure? You won't like what I'll ask of you."

Oswald nodded eagerly and smiled one of his more sincere and honest smiles.

Ed grabbed his arm and led him to a more private spot of the rec room, if such a thing even existed. He looked around to make sure no one was listening, including the guards and any cameras that might be in the room.

"I'm breaking us out of here. Don't-" Oswald stared ad Ed with wide eyes and went to say something "Don't say anything yet. Let me explain please."  
Oswald nodded hesitantly, doubt plain on his face.

"I already have most of the things I need or I know how to get them, but I need your help for the last step. I promise you don't have to hurt anyone and I won't either, but we need to get out of here before Strange breaks one of us completely."

Oswald looked more conflicted than anything. "But.. isn't that.. bad? We.. we're not supposed to.. to think like that. The Professor is...... trying to help.."

Ed grabbed Oswald's shoulders, feeling what would probably be best described as desperation. "Please Oswald. You know what they did to you, what they're still doing to you. You almost had a stroke last time and no one helped, if I hadn't-" He shut himself up before he could start rambling about how he couldn't bear the thought of losing his only friend. "You could have died, Oswald. And you will if we don't find a way out of here before there isn't any You left to save."

Oswald's expression darkened slightly, barely enough to be noticeable. "Strange used both our parents against us. He tortured you."

Ed nodded bitterly and waited for Oswalds' answer. A wide range of emotions passed his friend's face, from confliction to fear, to anger, to worry, to something Ed couldn't name and, at last, to determination and certainty.

"What do you need me to do?"

-

The plan was simple.   
Oswald still attended his usual therapies in the Professor's office in addition to being "de-violentised" every few days, and Ed still had an unusual amount of free time in the rec room.

They let the situation cool down for a while before making their move. Lucky for Ed the gas Strange had used in the mirrored room was hard to aquire, even for someone like Strange, so he didn't have to suffer through it until the day of stage one of their escape plan. At least that's what Ed assumed, seeing as Strange never talked to his patients about serious or important topics. Oswald wasn't so lucky.

He returned one day, visibly shaken as usual, his face even paler than what was normal for him and his mind locked away from Ed's questions.

Unbeknowenst to Ed, the hallucinations he was seeing when he was led down the hallway had taken on a different appereance. His mother's short frame was now tall and lanky, her long and flowing silver locks were now short and a dark shade of brown. Her elegant dresses were exchanged for drafty prison clothes and she now begged Oswald for her life while he killed her mercilessly.

Ed gave up asking eventually and resorted to comforting Oswald with hugs and distraction. He was still not exactly used to providing comfort, least of all the physical sort, but it was growing on him. It was.. nice, to have someone he could hug and find comfort in without being labeled weird. 

The day they had chosen to set phase one in motion started not unlike any other. Oswald had difficulties swallowing his bread. He was going over the plan in his head over and over again, so much was obvious.

Before he could overthink and accidentally ruin the plan, Ed took his hand reassuringly. "It'll be okay. You'll do great." Oswald smiled gratefully, squeezed his hand and finally managed to eat something.

Ed wondered where his sudden knowledge of what to say in which situations came from. Back at the GCPD he had always struggled with reading basic signs of human communication, which didn't really help his case.

After he had finally admitted who he really was it had gotten significantly easier, but he had still misread Jim Gordon's intentions regarding Miss Kringle and Street Trash Girl's intentions regarding Jim Gordon.

But for some reason, talking to Oswald made it easier. Oswald moved with an odd grace and ease in regards to touching and talking to people that Ed had never possessed. He was involuntarily teaching Ed the inner workings of human communication, even from the moment of their first conversation on.

Without Ed noticing, he had become the student while he had seem himself as the teacher all along.

"Ed? Are you okay?" Ed removed his hand from Oswald's and smiled uneasily. A relevation like that was never easiy, especially for him. For the first time in his life, he didn't feel like he had the upper hand anymore. Even the few times when he was talking to Strange he had felt superior. 

"I'm fine Oswald. Try to eat some more, you'll need the energy."

During the afternoon two guards entered, as usual, and led Oswald to the Professor's office, while Ed held the door open with a newspaper. They shared a nervous smile while Oswald disappeared around the corner.

Ed waited a few seconds until the footsteps weren't audible anymore and called Norton to him.

The second cannibal in the building, apart from Ed's neighbour, smiled at him lovingly after pulling him forcefully into a deep embrance and left through the open door into the opposite direction of Oswald.

"Remember what I told you!", Ed whispered after the skipping Norton.

For the next few minutes, Ed busied himself by strengthening his alliance with some of the other patients. He smiled at Helzinger's stuttered antics of his pet bunmy despite them clearly originating from a dream he had, he clapped at the dance Jennifer and the new girl were performing, and he paced aimlessly through the room.

Saying he was completely sure of Oswald's success would be a lie, but what was really confusing him was the reason behind his worry of Oswald failing.

Of course he was worried about a tiny mistake in a stage this early ruining the whole plan, but that wasn't his main concern.

He had met the Professor, had seen and felt his experiments on his own person, not to mention the lingering effects they still had on Oswald. And those experiments were entirely done out of curiosity. Ed didn't want to know what Strange did to people who actively opposed him.

And now, because Ed had to drag his only friend in this, Oswald was now one of those unfortunate souls. And it was Ed's fault. Every little detail of their plan was planned meticulously, every aspect had been taken into account and still he was worried Oswald might end up in a body bag at the GCPD. Or worse, his body would just be thrown into a river and left to rot underwater.

Ed's pacing was cut short by the offgoing alarm, just as planned after exactly four minutes and twentythree seconds.

He quickly resumed his spot by the barely open door and watched the guards rush by, not noticing the door that was practically wide open right in front of them. Ed would have laughed at their single-track minds, but his own mind was too deep in the perfect execution of his plan.

Just when the last guard run by, Norton appeared directly behind him and waved him goodbye as he run after his collegues without turning around. The situation was truly hilarious.

Ed grinned, satisfied his plan was working so far, and opened the door wide to let the cannibal in. It fell shut just when he could hear the sharp clicking of Miss Peabody's heels down the hallway.

"What is the meaning of this?" She was shouting at some unfortunate guard Ed hadn't bothered to learn the name of.

"Th-the alarm went off down the hallway so we went to check but-" "I didn't ask for an excuse, I asked for an explanation. What caused the alarm? Why did all of you dim-witted run down there without checking the security cameras??"

Ed grinned to himself. Norton had done an excellent job. It hadn't been easy to trigger his memory of how to dismantle a camera without being recorded from his days of working as a security guard in the Gotham Bank, but eventually he had succeeded and Norton had even remembered how to do it until now. Just as Ed planned.

Miss Peabody ignored the guard's incoherent stuttering and turned towards the patients inside the rec room. Ed quickly forced down his grin before she could notice.

"Do any of you happen to have a part in this?" Her glare was fixed on Ed, who just shrugged and smiled sweetly. Peabody scoffed and turned on her heel, leaving the confused patients and the relieved guards to themselves.

No one said a word. For once, both guards and patients shared something: their fear of Ethel Peabody.

After a few seconds of exchanging glances, one of the guards, a tall woman with dark hair, coughed and ordered the guards back to their routine and the patients to their daily activities.

"Did I do well Eddie?" The cannibal smiled widely and stared at Ed unblinkingly, waiting for his praise. "Yes Norton, you were fantastic." Even though Ed would have said the same thing regardless of the mission's outcome to stay on the cannibal's good side, it wasn't a lie. He had had his doubts about asking Norton of all people to dismantle the cameras, but after he had started to consider it a bit more (and with some insistence on Oswald's part), it turned out to be the best option.

Norton grinned extaticly and kissed Ed on the nose. He then left for the opposite corner of the room, doing god knows what. Ed didn't wait to see; he quickly lost interest in things and people not worth his time.

Not even three minutes later two of the guards that had been sent away by the guard lady returned, a giddy Oswald between them. Ed concentrated on looking indifferent, just in case the guards noticed anything, but they were too focussed on holding Oswald still, who was practically bouncing with glee.

As soon as they were gone and Oswald was free to move, he hurried towards Ed and hugged him passionately. He let go before Ed could hug him back and started talking exitedly, almost too fast for Ed to follow. Of course, just almost. Ed dragged him towards the corner while he talked.

"I was in Strange's office and he asked me about our friendship and I told him how great you are and then the alarm went off just when you said it would! And then Miss Peabody came in and said something about the basement and he just left me there with no guards and ran away! I didn't know what to look for exactly so I just took everything that might work but I don't know if they're the right tools and also I took a file from the drawer and I was so nervous but I was so exited and-"

Ed stopped his rambling with a wave of his hands. "Calm down Oswald. What did you take with you exactly?"

Oswald reached inside his pockets and dropped the content into Ed's waiting hands.

It was five office clamps, an old fashioned metal nailfile, one bobby pin and one letter opener. "You said you needed something you could use for picking a lock, so I took everything pointy."

Ed's grin seemed to reach from one ear to the other. Oswald had done better than he thought he could hope for. Some part inside of him seemed to have remembered the things once important to him and his success. 

"This is.. this is perfect Oswald! I can use almost all of these for the gate and the rest for the bolts of the vents. What did you say about a file?"

"Oh, right!" Oswald reached behind his back, pulling out a thick file. He had hidden it underneath his shirt, fastened by his pants.

"Subject 13?", Ed mumbled, reading the title out loud. He opened it, revealing formulas and equations even Ed had difficulties to understand, though he would never admit it outloud. 

What he  _d_ _id_ understand were the words that kept appearing in the notes next to the equations.

"Resurrection... DNA-modification... We need to get out of here sooner than we thought Oswald."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Edward and Oswald find a way out of Arkham?  
> Will Norton find someone he doesn't creep out?  
> Will Strange turn out to be three toddlers in a lab coat?   
> Find out next time!!!


	7. Flight Without Wings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter!!   
> I know I don't really answer your comments, but please know that I love reading every single of them. They make my day and motivate me to write more. Same goes for kudos. Please don't be discouraged by my incompetence <3

Never before had Ed been so grateful for his ability to plan ahead of time. Of course he had always done it, he had to do it, but especially now having made sure he was on a friendly basis with all of the patients from the beginning came in handy. There were always difficulties, but for the most part Ed was confident they all liked him in their own way.

Two hours before all patients had to leave the rec room for their cells Ed left Oswald with Sharon, who was furiously reading a book on stem cells out loud to him, and approached Bonnie Espie, one of the least attention drawing patients he had met in his time in Arkham. Espie never talked to any of the other patients, neither to make friends nor enemies. Nonetheless, it was obvious she was by far one of the most sane people Arkham had to offer. Except for Ed of course.

She ignored Ed comepletely, even when he sat down across from her and waited for her to acknowledge him, and continued to stare at the five year old newspaper in her lap.

"I heard you know how to get a telephone."

She looked up and glared at Ed for a millisecond before reading the newspaper again.

"I do. What do you need it for?"

"Does it matter?"

She didn't smile, but she didn't look like she wanted to murder him either. Ed considered that a good sign. "Meet me in an hour."

She strolled calmly towards the door and smiled at the guard standig before it. He made a pathetic attempt at hiding his own and opened the door, leading her to somewhere Ed couldn't see. He was pretty sure he didn't want to.

-

Exactly one hour later, Espie returned, holding a telephone in her hand inside her pocket. She threw it in Oswald's lap, who was sitting next to Ed in the back of the room again. Sharon had been brought to her cell early because she had lashed out after Helzinger accidentally walked into her, making her drop the book.

Oswald took the phone and stared at the display with unease. "Do I _really_ have to do this Ed? He won't fall for it, he's realise-" "He won't. You can do it Oswald, I believe in you." Strangely enough, he didn't even have to lie. Ed gave Oswald a meaningful look as his friend typed the familiar number with shaking hands. He had to re-dial four times before he could finally press the call button.

They waited for the call to be picked up with bated breaths.

"Who's there?"

Oswald breathed deeply for a second and moved the phone closer towards his ear. 

Suddenly the air seemed to shift around him. His soft green eyes turned into spikes of ice, and when he answered his voice possessed a sudden strength and power it took Ed's breath away. His hands were sweating and he swallowed to get rid of the dry feeling in his throat.

"It's me Gabe." Oswald's voice sounded darker and posessed a grace Ed had never heard before. It was mesmerising.

"Boss! I told ya he'd make it", he added, his voice quieter than before, as if he had turned away from the telephone to talk to someone next to him. "Don't worry boss, the car is ready. I prepared it when ya got arrested. We don't know how to get in though." 

"That doesn't matter. Make sure the car is hidden from Strange or he'll get rid of you before I can come out." "Will do Boss." "Oh, and Gabe?" Oswald exchanged glances with Ed. "Come alone. An old friend is coming along."

Oswald hung up and his eyes softened. "Was that.. okay? I tried to sound like I used to but I'm not sure.."

Ed tried to tell him he did great, but when he opened his mouth no sound came out. He caughed nervously at Oswald's confused glance and tried to calm his rapid heart beat.

He could see his darker self laughing hysterically across the room. _What is going on??_ This feeling was entirely unfamiliar to Ed. It had some similarities to what he had felt when he and Kristen had been together, but this was different. Much more... intense.

But why? He hadn't thought of Kristen in weeks, ever since he had told Oswald-

A realisation dawned inside Ed's head. Could it be that he.....

But no. That couldn't be it. It didn't make sense. 

Ed only realised he hadn't answered Oswald's concerns when his friend gently nudged his arm. "Are you alright?" Ed coughed again to make sure his throat was working this time. "I'm fine Oswald. And you did perfectly."

Oswald avoided eye contact and blushed the same moment Ed did.   
No. Ed didn't blush. He was better than that.

Their mutual non-blushing was interrupted by Espie. She cleared her throat and groaned.

"Are you two lovebirds done? Can I get my phone back please?" Ed ducked his head and handed it to her, ignoring the part about the lovebirds. She didn't know what she was saying. There was no need to adress it when she wouldn't understand anyway.

-

Ed waited for a few hours after he and everyone else had been brought back to their cells before continuing with his plan.

He passed the time by pacing, repeating the plan over and over in his head and ignorning his dark self in the corner. He was still giggling, he hadn't stopped since Real-Ed's last conversation with Oswald.

"Leave already! I can't concentrate when you're here." Ed tried to keep his voice down so he wouldn't attract any attention from the guards standing at both ends of the corridor.

"How many times do you need to hear it, I can't and I won't. I am everything you are but don't want to acknowledge, and as long as you keep supressing who you are I'll stay."

Ed rolled his eyes. His hallucination wasn't making sense. He wasn't supressing anything anymore. He had given in to his darker side a long time ago, ever since he had discovered how _beautiful_ the danger of almost being caught could feel.

He knew and had always known killing was bad and he still wasn't proud of it, but he had sworn to himself he wouldn't change who he was just to conform to social norms anymore. He had kept his promise.

So why was he still seing hallucinations of himself?? Why was he still lingering around, disturbing Ed's thought process and annoying him in every possible situation??

"You know why I'm here. Hell, you have to, since I do. Stop lying to yourself and admit it."

Ed grit his teeth and looked out of his cell window. Everyone was fast asleep, even the guards were clearly fighting their treacherous eyelids.

Ed stepped in front of his bed quickly, careful not to make a sound. He pulled at the bed frame and winced when it creaked loudly. He waited for a few seconds, ears straining to pick up any sound that would indicate a guard approaching. All he could here was the soft snoring from several inmates in the cells around his own.

He quickly continued pushing until his bed was placed directly under the vent and stood on top of it. His hand slid inside his pant pocket and pulled out the letter opener and the nail file. While he was unscrewing the vent grating, a sudden mumbling in a cell across the hallway interrupted the peaceful but tense silence.

Ed stopped moving entirely and prayed to every single deity anyone ever believed in neither of the guards would check up on whoever was talking at 2 in the morning.

One second went by, then two, then sixty, and nothing moved. Ed let out a relieved breath and finally got to finish what he was doing.

After removing the grating and carefully setting it aside on his pillow, Ed pulled himself up into the ventilation system, cursing his past self for not indulging in more physical activities than experimenting and running after his collegues he used to consider his friends.

The ventilation system was disgusting. There were cobwebs everywhere, dust hanging in the air and mold staining the walls.

Ed scrunched up his nose in disgust and crawled in the direction he had mapped out in his head. After less than two metres he reached the next vent and gently knocked on it to attract the attention of the man in the room below it.

Oswald's head snapped up and he beamed at Ed, taking the tools his friend handed him through the grating. He quickly unscrewed it and took Ed's hands, who pulled him upwards.

After Ed had first told Oswald of his plan to escape using the ventilation system, Oswald had been conflicted, and not just because of his conditioning. "Your plan is brilliant Ed, but how am I going to get around inside the vents with my leg?" Ed had promised to help as much as he could, and even though Oswald still wasn't sure, he agreed.

Crawling through the vents wasn't easy for Ed either. His lack of and disinterest in physical training over the years had lead to a complete lack of stamina when it came to moving fast for a long time. Especially if he also had to simultaneously be quiet.

According to the soft huffing behind him Oswald was in a similar situation. Ed turned his head to look at him over his shoulder. Oswald's face was burning red and his gaze was casted downwards, only interrupted by little winces every time he had to use his damaged leg.

"It's not far now, Oswald. We'll be outside in a minute." Oswald nodded, his smile clearly pained.

Ed was right, less than five minutes later they reached the third vent grating they needed to open to reach their freedom.

Opening this one took longer than either of them would have liked. It creaked and rustled with every movement Ed made to unlock it. He almost expected Strange to appear outside of it, laughing and filling the whole system with the gas he had used on him before.

Eventually the grating opened and fell onto the roof with a loud "clang". Both Oswald and Ed winced in fear of being caught, but once again no one stopped them.

Not believing their luck they climbed out, careful not to step on the grating as to not make any more sounds than they already had. No need to tempt fate.  
Just like Ed remembered, there was an isolated old fire escape at the side of the building they could use to climb off the roof and into the courtyard.

They were halfway down the fire escape, Ed moving more or less with ease, Oswald wincing with every step, when suddenly a loud alarm cut through the tense silence.

Oswald looked down at Ed with a panicked expression. Ed jumped down the last three steps and held out his arms for Oswald.

"I'll catch you Oswald! You need to jump, or we won't make it!" Ed could see Oswald's chest heaving. His wide open eyes reflected the search lights scanning every centimetre of the building for them.

Ed turned his head hurriedly and urgently gestured Oswald to let go. "Please Oswald, trust me! We have to hurry!"

Oswald closed his eyes and let go. He fell less than two metres, but to Ed it felt like much more. He would catch him, he had to, but he wasn't sure his arms would be strong enough to hold his friend's weight, especially with the heightened velocity he aquired during the fall.

His fears were unfounded. Less than a second after Oswald had let go, he was safe in Ed's arms.   
Ed held him as closely as possible. The fall hadn't been overly dangerous, but Ed could still feel his heart beat way too fast inside his chest. He breathed his friend's sweet scent for a second to calm himself down.

When had he become like this? More worried about this odd little man's life than his own, more concerned about keeping Oswald safe than the excellent execution of his plan? If Oswald hadn't been, he never would have considered breaking out this fast, he never would have considered breaking out this hastily.

It didn't matter. Nothing mattered now, except for getting Oswald out of here safely.

Ed quickly let his friend stand on his own and hurried towards the gate. He could make out a black car behind it, barely hidden by the dark. Ed would have to teach Oswald's henchmen how to properly keep yourself hidden. If the escape was a success, of course.

They reached the gate only seconds before the first shouts rang out. Ed took the tools again and started picking the gate's lock, Oswald pacing behind panickedly him while the guards came closer and closer.

Suddenly time seemed to stop around them and several different things happened all at once.

The gate's lock clicked and it swung open.  
Out of the corner of his eye Ed could see the shape of a baton, ready to strike down on his head.  
Ed turned his head and raised his arm in a useless attempt to protect himself from being beated to death.  
The tools were ripped out of his hands.

And then there was Oswald.   
Oswald, with the letter opener in one and the metal nail file in the other hand.   
Oswald, turned half away from Ed, a determined expression on his face, his eyes shining.   
Oswald, raising his arms above his head.

And the blood, running down the guard's body and staining the concrete ground.

Ed's breath hitched, leaving him faster and harder than the baton would have been able to.

\---

Oswald felt like he was waking up from a long, delusional dream. His eyes were finally open and he could see the world and control his own thoughts again. His hands were covered in a familiar warm and red liquid, the same liquid leaving the gurgling body of the man at his feet. 

His own blood was boiling. But not from anger, no. He felt... _Alive._

Silent laughter rippled through him. His shoulders were shaking, finally breaking free from the weight put on them by Strange and his minions. A few metres away he could see the guards running toward them, some with weapons, some with their bare hands. In the light of the search lighs and the moon above them they looked like mere children, unable to refuse orders and too simple minded to do anything about it.

Unlike him. He had broken free. 

"Oswald-" his head spun around apruptly "Are you alright?"

There he was. This wonderful, beautiful man. The only man who had supported and protected him, even in this weak, pathetic state. The only man who had tried to help, the only man who had ever seemed to see him as he was - even if he hadn't been himself in their time together. He couldn't feel more grateful for this man's existence if he tried.

Oswald smiled. It didn't feel empty anymore. He joy and relief cursing through his body, triggered by the warm and sticky blood on his hands and the weapons still covered with it.

"I've never been better my friend."

He relished in Ed's answering smile as long as it lasted. He had never looked at him like that before, with such unbriddled happiness and.. adoration?

Teir reunion of sorts was cut short by the arrival of the other guards, bent on avenging their collegue and friend.

Ed pushed Oswald outside the gate, who hurried towards the waiting car as fast as his limp allowed. He could almost make out Gabe behind the windshield already. "We did it Ed! We're free!"

No answer. Oswald turned around, fearing the worst.

His fears were answered by a loud cry of pain. It was no doubt who it had been. Even if Oswald hadn't felt the weight of both weapons in his hands, knowing Ed didn't have anything to defend himself, that voice was unmistakeable. He had heard it countless times in his therapy sessions and nightmares.

"Ed!" He gestured towards the car and moved to help him, but Ed, who was struggling to fight against the guards surrounding him, interrupted him.

"No! Go! Go Oswald! I'll be- AARGH-" A taser connected with his neck, sending electricity throughout his body- "I'll be okay!"

Oswald could feel his eyes water. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. They were supposed to escape together, not just one of them. He couldn't move, neither towards the car nor away from it. He couldn't just leave Ed behind after all he had done for him, and frankly he didn't want to. Ed was the only one who understood and supported him like his mother did. No. He understood him like no one had before. Oswald couldn't imagine living without him ever again.

He watched helplessly as Ed was dragged back inside the building, his head hanging uselessly from his shoulders.

"Boss! Hurry!"

Gabe's voice broke Oswald out of his trance. There were more guards coming still, trying to get him inside as well.

Oswald grit his teeth and gestured towards Gabe, who pulled out a gun and aimed it.   
He would never let them take him back.  
He would return, stronger than ever, and free his one and only friend.   
And then, after they would be free, they would make sure Strange would be the one suffering for once.

Oswald flipped the guards off and entered the waiting car, smiling grimmly at their agonised screams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotham: never lets my favourite characters interact for longer than a few episodes and keeps breaking them up  
> Me: :c  
> Also me: writes fanfiction breaking my favourite characters up after a few chapters with few interactions
> 
> ?????????????


	8. Hopeless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry

Ed could barely feel his limbs as the guard dragged him back inside. He had given up fighting after the third electric shock had made his body go rigid. It was no use. They were too many, and he was too weak.

But even as the air became moldy around him and the screams of the insane filled his ears again, he couldn't stop the smile on his lips.

Oswald had made it.  
Oswald was free and back to being himself.

That was enough comfort for Ed. He would survive Arkham as well and escape a while later to find Oswald again. He wasn't too keen on having to put up with Norton licking his face or Sharon stealing his glasses, but it was endurable.  
He would be fine. In less than a week he would be a free man and Oswald would be with him. He would never be alone again.

That's what he though at least, until they reached the corridor his cell was in. Ed breathed slowly and mentally prepared himself for another night in darkness with familiar voices whispering about death, but no one unlocked the door.

Ed turned his head as far as he was allowed, watching the door become smaller as he was carried away from it.

"Where are we going? Hey!"  
"Quiet Nygma. You're being relocated."  
"Relocated?? But why? Where?"

No one answered him.  
Ed wasn't sure what to think. There was no reason he knew of that would justify a relocation. Sure, Ed had tried to escape, but the other cells were pretty much the exact same. A part of him was exited to find out why this was happening, but the rest dreaded the outcome. Nothing Strange ordered could ever be good.

The guards holding him stopped after just two more corridors. Ed looked around curiously. They had stopped in a completely empty hallway with nothing in it except for two doors, one of which they came from.

Just when Ed was starting to wonder what the hell they were doing there, standing still and staring at the empty wall, neither moving back nor forth, Strange and and his dracula-haired assistant entered the hallway through the other door.

Ed rolled his eyes. He couldn't be spared from their presence for one night, could he?

"Mr Nygma! I'm so pleased you could stay, we were just beginning to develop a therapy for your condition. If you would follow me please."  
Ed snorted. As if Strange didn't know he was forced to stay. This pretence of politness made him nothing but furious, but he didn't let it show on his face. No need to give Strange more insight in his psyche than he had already gotten.

Peabody walked over to the wall. The guards obstructed Ed's line of sight but he could hear something being unlocked. A hidden door opened, revealing an elevator.  
Ed couldn't help but feel exited. A secret entrance to a secret basement?? That was exactly his kind of thing. If he wasn't being dragged down there involuntarily he would have doubled over in joy.

The elevator started moving downwards once everyone was in it. No one said a single word. Ed tried to read Strange's or Peabody's expession, but it was no use. The guards pointedly looked ahead, Peabody wore her signature arrogant smile and Strange just beamed. 

After several minutes of uncomfortable silence, the elevator finally stopped and opened. The guards pushed Ed inside the dimly lit corridor full of heavily bolted doors with numbers on them. The light was uncomfortably harsh and Ed blinked and looked around through closed lids.

Before Ed could take a single step towards or away from the guards or even just really look around, they grabbed both his arms, now with a lot more strength in their grip. Ed looked at them confusedly but let himself be lead down the hallway. There wasn't much he could do to prevent it after all.

They led him down two more disturbingly loud corridors with the same bolted doors and numbers, until they finally stopped in front of door number BI-0315.

"Welcome to your new home."  
Ed was pushed inside, the door closing shut behind him.

Only now did reality really catch up with him. There were no visible vents, the door was hermatically sealed and from what Ed had seen it was at least as thick as his head. Even the window withstood any attempts Ed made to break it.  
A calm feeling of dread overtook Ed's mind. Even if he did find a way to leave this cell, there were still this labyrinth of corridors, a locked elevator and the normal Arkham above him between him and his freedom, which had been hard enough to leave the last time he had tried.

Ed sat down on his 'bed', his head in his hands. How was he supposed to escape this hell? And Oswald... how was he supposed to find him again?? How was he supposed to l-

 _Stop thinking about him._ Ed wasn't sure if it had been him or his dark side who had spoken, but either way he was right. Oswald was gone. Ed had told him to leave. There was no reason for him to come back. It was better to understand that now than hold on to an irrational hope that would only make him suffer more than he would anyway.

The only thing left for Ed to do was find out a way to make Strange release him voluntarily. He mentally kicked himself for not taking that opportunity when it had presented itself, but he couldn't make himself actually regret it. He had saved Oswald by doing it after all, and that was worth any torture Strange could inflict on him.

-

Hours bled into days, days into weeks. Ed wasn't sure how long it had been until his door opened again. Any human interraction had taken place by some guard pushing a tray of terrible food through the tiny window in the door, barely big enough to let a small tray through, and Ed running towards the door hurriedly before it hit the floor.

There wasn't any therapy. No group therapy, no therapists asking him what he dreamt tonight, no Peabody, no Strange.

Ed had never been the guy to seek out crowds to mingle, he had always preferred to be admired than anything else. Not that that happened either. But this absolute deprivation of human contact was too much even for him. He could neither talk to someone on an equal level nor to someone below it. Hell, he'd even admit someome was on a higher level than him just to.. talk to someone. If it hadn't been for the constant screams coming from his neighbour cells Ed couldn't have been sure the outside world had just ceased to exist.

He spent the first few days waiting for Strange or Peabody to enter and to impress them with his fairly incredible knowledge so they would have no other choice but to release him. He even made an effort to always look presentable. Impressions are important, after all.

After a while, when no one came, Ed started muttering riddles to himself under his breath to entertain himself. If no other human beings would do it, he'd have to do it himself. New ones, old ones, terrible ones, the ones he was particularly proud of. He sat on his 'bed', either leaned against the wall with his head between his hands or curled up into a ball.  
At this point Ed couldn't ignore the outside anymore. The light inside his cell was cold and harsh, burning into his eyes even when they were closed. The light outside flickered from time to time, providing his only distraction from the neverending sounds coming from the outside. There was growling, screaming, sounds Ed couldn't even begin to categorize. He didn't want to know what caused them but he had a pretty good idea. It was terrifying.

With the riddles came the hallucinations. Day and night his own hallucination tormented him by laughing at him and turning the thoughts in his head around. But he wasn't alone this time. From time to time, his appereance would change into people Ed once knew, loved, or hated. Every time that happened, Ed turned towards the wall, screwed his eyes shut and pressed his hands against his ears until it felt like his skull was being crushed. It wasn't enough to shut out the accusing words and the laughing, but the pain of putting so much pressure on his head at least distracted him.

He couldn't pretend Oswald wasn't gone anymore.  
He couldn't pretend he didn't miss him anymore.  
Breathing hurt, eating hurt, thinking hurt. Where was Oswald now? Was he alright? Was he suffering as Ed was?

Every time he consciously thought about it he had to fight tears until he physically couldn't. He didn't care about what Strange or Peabody might think of him anymore. It was too late for that. All he cared about was getting out of here, finding Oswald and.. he didn't know what he wanted to do then. He didn't have enough hope to plan any kind of future he might have. A future with Oswald or without him.

Eventually, the door did open. Ed sat in the corner, knees pulled up to his chest and his head rested against them. He slowly raised his head at the wave of slightly fresher air rushing inside his cell. Had his hair not fluttered into his forehead he would have been sure this was another hallucination, but none of them had never been able to interact with him so far. He stared at the open door with wide eyes and blinked, unbelieving.  
Two guards stepped inside, one stayed at the door, ready to slam the door shut should he try to escape. Ed stared at them, unable to move, neither to stand up nor to run away.  
One of the guards sighed heavily and grabbed his arm, pulling him up. He led him outside, into the flickering light of the corridor Ed had been watching for weeks, the other guards directly behind him.  
The hallway was empty except for them. For the first time in forever he felt like he could think clearly.

Ed raised his ellbow and slammed it into the face of the guard holding him. He punched the other behind him and started running, neither caring for where he was running nor about the guard behind him trying to catch up.  
Ed wasn't exactly great at physical activities, but he had always been pretty okay at running fast for a short amout of time if the floor was even.

His breath came out in short huffs and his legs tried to overcome the lack of strength caused by years of being unwilling to exercise and weeks of being locked into a tiny room.  
His eyes zeroed in on one end of a corridor after another, rushing past the doors beside him without caring for their numbers.

He couldn't think, he couldn't hear, he could't feel. All he could do was run, and run he did.  
If he reached the elevator, he would be so much closer to his freedom.

It was three metres away. Then two. Then one.  
Before Ed could wonder where the rattling sounds above him came from, the elevator reached the basement, revealing two familiar faces.

Ed came to an aprupt stop. Panic overtook his body and he turned on his heel, ready to run into the opposite direction, but before he could take a single step the guard caught up with him, the other two directly behind him.

They grabbed Ed's arms and held on to him as he struggled to free himself. It was no use.

An icy cold calmness settled over him and he went limp inside the guards arms. His one chance at reaching freedom had proven to be worthless. Just like everything else.

"Oh Mr. Nygma. You just continue to be a troublemaker. I'm afraid we will have to keep you more secure in the future or you might hurt yourself." Strange glanced at Peabody. She nodded and left down the hallway Ed had come from.

"You have another therapy sceduled today. Follow me please." As if Ed had any say to that matter. The guards forced him to follow Strange, not caring for his panicked expression or the way his breath came out too fast and too shallow.  
Ed felt like he was drowning. The walls came closer around him and suffocated him. He was having his first panic attack in months, and he didn't have any kind of refuge to break him out of it. No riddles, no one he could impress, or rather annoy with his knowledge, nothing to look forward to.  
All he had was the fear of what kind of torture Strange would expose him to this time.

They reached their destination far too soon. The door shared no resemblance to the feeling of menacing dread Ed could feel inside himself. It was simply a grey, ordinary door.  
A door that was opened at that exact moment, that Ed was pushed through.

This room didn't have a chair like the last one. It was entirely empty. There weren't any mirrors or windows this time either. Just a blank, black wall, obscured by the strange mist that filled the whole room.  
Ed carefully straightened himself and walked towards the middle of the room to have a better view of it.

Suddenly, two cold hands covered his eyes.  
"Guess who~"  
Ed jumped at the familiar voice, turned around and gasped.  
"O-Oswald? How are you.. are you.. real?" It was impossible. There was no way Oswald could be in this room, or in this building, but nonetheless a spark of foolish hope warmed Ed's insides, desperate to believe it was true.

Oswald snorted. "Come on Ed, really? Of course I'm not 'real'. Do you really think I care enough about you to be here?"  
Ed had expected the words, but they hurt nonetheless.  
He smiled bitterly and let his gaze wander over the walls, trying to find any hidden windows, vents or any other opening the gas Strange had previously used could have entered through. Anything he could use to defend himself. 

"You're not the real Oswald. You're just an image of someone I care about that Strange created to torment me. Nothing you could say matters to me."  
Oswald chuckled darkly and stepped closer in a disturbingly elegant way. His walk lacked any limp the real Oswald posessed.  
He grabbed Ed's chin and forced him to face him again. Ed squeezed his eyes shut and tried to evade the man's grip, but even though he was just a figment of his imagination, he had no chance. Since when could these images interract with him??  
"Oh right because you just hallucinate random people that mean nothing to you. Why would I be here if it didn't matter?"  
Ed breathed shallowly, trying to block out this imposter's words, knowing they were true.

"I will never care about you, Edward. _I_ left you here. You have nothing to do with it. I could have come to get you by now, or, better yet, I could have helped you fight against those guards back then. And yet you're still here."  
He chuckled again and let go of Ed's face, letting it snap in the opposite direction. Ed tried to get as much distance between him and this twisted version of _his_ Oswald until his back hit the wall.  
"Remember when Strange made you that offer of leaving me here and setting you free instead? You didn't take it, for reasons we all know you know but don't want admit to yourself. And what did I do? I left you here for WEEKS even though I had every opportunity to get you out. What part of that makes you think I _ever_ cared about you??"

"I..I told him to leave and not come back, I told him I'd be fine. I never expected-" "Oh but you hoped, didn't you?", the hallucination barked, interrupting Ed. "You put all your hope into me coming for you. You didn't even try to escape until ten minuted ago, and even then you didn't _think_ -" he jabbed Ed's temple with his finger, making him jerk his face back "-you didn't even think about the proper way to do it. You didn't even try. Face it Eddie, I left you, and I'm not coming back. Give up already. You're alone. Just like last time."

Another familiar face appeared across the room. Fake-Oswald turned around and smiled at her.  
"I was wondering when you would show up. I can't have all the fun to myself, can I", he sighed, but it was obvious he was amused by Ed's terror. Oswald stepped aside to let her have the spotlight for a while.

"Hello Ed. Did you miss me?" Her hair was just as red as Ed remembered, her eyes still posessed the same gleam they had when she was still alive.  
Telling her no would be a lie, but so would a yes.

"Kristen..? Why are you.. here..?"  
"Oh I was just in the neighbourhood, visiting a few old friends, having fun.. Oh wait, no. I can't do that, because YOU KILLED ME!" She screamed her last words painfully loud into Ed's face, making him jump backwards against the wall. Something was happening outside, Ed could hear an alarm going off, someone shouting and several people running, but all he could concentrate on was Kristen's face, barely three centimetres away from his own.

"Honestly Ed, you're pathetic. First you try to get my attention for literal years with all your creepy riddles, which, by the way, _literally no one cares about_ -" Oswald snickered at that "-then you finally behave like a man and ask me out properly, like a functioning human being, and then.." She snapped her fingers and red marks began to grow over her throat "..then you did what we all always knew you would. Because you, Edwards 'Nygma', are worthless. All you are good for is destruction."  
Ed shook his head and tried to get away from her, but the wall behind him prevented any efforts on his side.  
"I wanted- I couldn't- I didn't mean to, it was an accident! I just-" "You what Ed?", she interrupted him once again and laughed maliciously. "You wanted to make me understand you 'loved' me? By telling me you killed my ex and then killing me?" She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. "You are a pathetic loser that can't admit the truth to himself Edward Nygma, and no one who isn't _seriously_ messed up will ever love you. Hey, you would at least have something in common."

Kristen's words felt like being stabbed in the gut with a knife, but the thing that truly hit Ed was Oswald, who was breaking out into laughter at Kristen's insults. His face was twisted with malicious glee, void of both the kind, gentle man Ed had learned to appreciate on the highest level he was capable of, and the passionate criminal Ed had seen him become for a short amout of time.

Something shattered inside Ed's chest. His legs gave out underneath him and he sunk to the floor, his body convulsing in uncontrollable sobs.  
He could handle all the insults, all the jabs at who he was and what he did, he was used to those, but this was too much.

These two people, the only human beings he cared about, the only people who ever cared about him, these two people hurt him worse than physical pain ever could. 

They didn't vanish at Ed's admission of feelings. Not that he had expexted them to. On the contrary, they stood above him, next to each other, united. They laughed in sync with the alarm outside the door and looked down on him.

"Look at him Ozzie. Isn't he pathetic? Crying like a little kid that can't handle the truth" she laughed and intertwined her hand with Oswald's.  
"I couldn't agree more. Does he really think either of us ever thought he was worthy of our attention? Especially after what he did to us? So desperate for an actual human being to see him as equal. He should know by now that will never happen if not even his own parents could love him."

Ed curled up on the floor and pressed his hands against his ears as hard as he could. He whimpered, tears streaming down his face.  
Oswald and Kristen stood before him, hand in hand, telling him everything he had always known but supressed over time.

They were right. Why should they care? He had basically stalked Kristen, manipulated Oswald and now they were both gone. Ed deserved all they shouted at him, but why did it hurt so much? Why couldn't he just forget? Why couldn't it all just end?  
He couldn't live like this anymore, with everyone he loved dying or leaving, knowing what a terrible human being he was.

Suddenly the door opened apruptly, letting the green mist still hovering around the room escape.  
Ed paid no mind neither to the distant coughing nor the hurried, uneven footsteps approaching him.  
His eyes were still screwed shut when a warm hand gently touched his shoulder.

"Ed? Are you alright?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.. this chapter was almost too real for me to write :))) forgive me please  
> (why do i keep letting my favourite characters suffer??)  
> Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway. Thank you to everyone who commented since last time <3
> 
> See you next chapter hopefully!!


	9. Beautiful Stranger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <33333 the comments omfg i love all of you

The car ride back to the city was uncomfortably silent. Oswald stared straight ahead at Gabe's head in the driver's seat.  
He was finally free.  
After months of torture and deprivation of basic human rights and needs, Oswald was free. He could go back to Gotham, find his remaining men and re-build his empire. He could reclaim the mantle of the fearsome Penguin and control all of Gotham City once again.  
Basically, he could do everything he had always dreamed of and worked for.  
So why wasn't he happy? Why couldn't he just forget what had happened and look forward?

In his head the last ten minutes kept repeating themselves. The fear, the gurgling guard, the blood on his hands.. And Ed.  
Ed smiling at him warmly, his eyes shining with something Oswald wasn't sure how to name.  
Ed's expression turning panicked when he noticed the guards catching up with them.  
Ed pushing him forward through the gate.  
Ed staying behind without Oswald even noticing.  
Ed screaming in pain.  
Ed vanishing behind the metal doors that kept all the terror and anguish Oswald had experienced in the last months behind them.  
The one person that supported him, the one person he could see himself loving, the only person left worth protecting was now behind those gates, facing unimaginable torture.

Oswald should be glad or grateful for Ed's sacrifice, but all he could feel was pain and the burning of his eyes.

"I'm glad you're back boss. The others didn't think ya'd make it, but I knew ya would. I kept them in line while ya were gone, boss. Most of them still follow ya, but some left ya for Gilzean after a while."  
Oswald made a small noise of acknowledgement. What his former employees thought of him was the least of his worries.

So many people, even those he cared about, had suffered because of him. Arkham had made him realise that.  
Oswald couldn't let those people torture his one and only friend anymore. It was simply not an option.  
But what could he do? Arkham was built like a fortress, it had been hard enough to get out on his own, how was he supposed to get inside and Ed out with him?

The car fell silent again. Oswald didn't have any desire to talk, too deep in thought about what these maniacs could be doing to Ed in that exact moment.  
Was he in pain?  
Was he even still alive?  
Oswald shuddered and willed those terrible thoughts to go away. He would get nothing done if he was distracted by desperation. He had already lost one person he loved because of it, he wouldn't allow it to cause the death of another.

"Boss..?" Gabe sent Oswald a cautious look over his shoulder.  
"What, Gabe? I don't have time for this right now."  
"I just thought you'd like to know I arranged a meeting with one of the main family leaders that left ya for-" "What is your point Gabe?! I don't care about the families, I have more important things to think about."  
Oswald almost couldn't hear Gabe's sigh.  
"If you can convince him to rejoin ya, you'd have more followers to help ya free your little friend."

Oswald raised his head, his eyes connecting with Gabe's in the rearview mirror.  
"What did you say?"  
"Your friend. The guy that pushed ya outside to save ya. I thought maybe-" "I got that Gabe. That's not what I meant."

He leaned forwards to face Gabe directly.  
"If I have my empire back, or parts of it anyway, I could take Arkham by storm and free Ed!"  
Oswald grinned happily. Who would have thought coming up with a plan would be that easy?

-

It wasn't that easy.  
"What do you mean you won't join me again??"  
Angelo Beretti shrugged and looked down at the fuming Oswald half apologetic, half apathetic.  
"Gilzean promised us a huge part in the business, bigger than you did before. It's just business buddy."  
Oswald was practically boiling with rage.  
"How. Dare. You." He stepped closer to the family leader. "I am the one who rebuilt the whole business after Falcone retired and Fish and Maroni died. I am the one who made sure you didn't end up arrested for shooting up a hospital. Without me, you wouldn't even LIVE ANYMORE!!" He smashed the glass he was holding in his hand.  
Beretti slowly stepped back and raised his hands in a useless attempt at defense. He wasn't taking Oswald serious, which only infuriated him more.  
"Whoa, take it easy man. It's nothing personal. I have a family to look after too you know."

Oswald raised the shotgun previously dangling uselessly in his hand and aimed it at Beretti's head, ignoring the clicks of several other guns pointed in his direction.  
Gabe and the men he had brought with him looked around nervously and aimed their own guns at random members of Beretti's family. They were seriously outnumbered.

"I don't CARE who you have to take care of! I need to save the only person worth saving in this rotten city, and you will either help me or.. Well, I guess you know what happens if you refuse."  
Tiny pearls of sweat were forming on Beretti's forehead. "I can't-"  
The rest of his words were cut off by the booming sound of a shotgun and the surprisingly loud splattering of brains and blood hitting the wall, painting it dark red.

No one moved.  
No one said anything.  
Oswald turned around and wiped off the spray of blood on his cheek.  
"Anyone else have any objections?"

The room remained silent for a few moments. Oswald stared at every single face in the room, taking in the gangsters' expressions. Some where impressed, some furious, some terrified.  
Oswald raised his shotgun again and cocked it, making it clear he wouldn't hesitate to shoot the next person to object him.

A quiet murmur overtook the room as the members of Beretti's family slowly let go of their weapons, some more hesitant than others.  
Oswald grinned, satisfied with the situation. He had gone way too long without this kind of action.  
"That's what I thought. Now someone get me a table and all the money and weapons you have."  
Another moment went by without anyone moving, but everyone quickly got to work.  
"Oh and-" Oswald grabbed a young man's arm, barely over 20 "-clean up that mess over there. I can't work if it smells like a moron's brain in here."  
The boy nodded and scurried away, terrified of the small man's impusiveness.  
Oswald sighed happily and sat down at the table that was brought in at the same moment.

-

The planning took way longer than Oswald would have liked. There were too many things to possibly go wrong, too many coincidents to be calculated.  
He sighed as some guy Oswald hadn't bothered to learn the name of explained something about Arkham's ventilation system almost two weeks later.

He missed Ed.  
He missed him way more than he had expected when he had left.  
His dreams were full of Ed's smiles and Ed's screams and every moment they had spent together. His tears when he had told Oswald of his dead girlfriend. His concern when Oswald had been brought to Strange again. His relief when Oswald had brought him the tools for their escape.  
Ed's planning had been brilliant. He had managed to get them both to the front gates and one of them out with the limited resources of a patient in a mental asylum, one on special watch from the Professor nonetheless, while Oswald had difficulties freeing just one of them with the power and reach of a crime boss.

"Do you know where your friend is kept Mr. Penguin?"  
Oswald looked up to the man breaking him out of his internal monologue and self pity.  
"Yes? I mean I know where he was kept before. But.." He studied the plan of Arkham before him. "But maybe he is somewhere else now. Ed told me about the patients disappearing before I was brought back to the normal therapy rooms and I heard Strange say something about a basement when the alarm went off. Maybe there are some other cells down there..."

His thoughts were once again interrupted, this time by the door slamming open and banging against the wall loudly.  
Oswald stood up hurriedly and looked at the two people standing in the door.

"I got one Boss." Gabe pushed the man whose arm he had held in a deathgrip into the room. The man stumbled and fell, his knees and hands connecting with the worn wooden floor.  
He looked up terrifiedly and his eyes scurried across the room, trying to find any familiarity in the unknown environment.  
Oswald stepped before him and looked down at the small red haired man currently gasping for air caused by his fear.  
"Hello. I am the Penguin."

The man's head snapped up and his eyes connected with Oswald's. He was clearly terrified. Gabe had done an excellent job.  
"I-I-I-" "I don't care who you are, ginger. What I do care about is your workplace. What can you tell me about Arkham?"

"I-I-I c-can't-" "I suggest you rethink your answer before I have to tell my men to clean the room off another idiot's brain." Oswald patted the shotgun in his hand almost lovingly. The redhead swallowed hard and opened his mouth again, clearly trying to stay calm.

"If I tell you o-or anyone anything I-I'll die." Oswald rolled his eyes.  
"Always so selfish. I'll tell you what, if you tell me where you keep Edward Nygma and how I can get there, I might not kill your whole family and everyone you know." He smiled sweetly.  
The redhead opened his mouth again, a defiant expression on his face, but Oswald silenced him with a wave of his hand. "That is a one-time offer. Refuse and I will hang your wife's guts on the ceiling fan and decorate the walls with her blood. I heard you wanted to paint the baby's room in red anyway. Such a lovely colour for an unborn girl. I will not ask again. Where is Edward Nygma and how. Do. I. Get. There?"

The redhead's head sunk down to his chest and his eyes were void of all hope.  
"I don't know what cell he is in, but I can tell you what cellblock he is in."  
When he didn't continue, Oswald waved his gloved hand in a rotating motion. "Go on. I don't have all day."  
"There is a basement. It's called Indian Hill. Strange experiments on people there."  
Oswald's head snapped up to Gabe, his face blatantly showing the distress he had no chance of disguising.  
"Nygma is in block BI as far as I know. I don't know the room number, but I can get you in there."

-

Several hours and hundreds of dollars later the redhead was lead to the door again, his arm held tight by Gabe's bear-like hands.  
"Don't forget. Stick to the plan. We know where your family lives." He nodded erratically, sweat and tears running down his face.  
Gabe pushed him outside the door and watched him run away, stumbling over his feet and holding the bag full of bribe as close to his chest as the fabric allowed.

Gabe stepped inside again and walked up to Oswald, who was currently studying the plan of Arkham again.  
"Do ya think Ginger will do what he promised?"  
Oswald rolled his eyes. "Of course he will Gabe. Threatening your family works wonders when you're bribing someone. I should know" he added bitterly.  
He never would have gone through with his threat of course, he had respect of mothers and this one hadn't done anything wrong, but it was effective enough and now the final stage of his plan to free Ed was only about a week away.  
He hated it, but they couldn't set the plan in motion right away. Redhead had just disappeared for a few hours, Strange would be suspicious.  
"I still don't get why ya insist on going in alone. Why don't ya let us settle that?"  
Oswald sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "A group of people is way too suspicious and I'm not going to leave Ed's life in the hands of these morons. I have much more faith in my abilities than in theirs."  
Gabe nodded slowly. Oswald had the impression he still didn't get it, but that wasn't important. 

"Indian Hill... I've heard of that place before. I convinced Maroni to give it to Falcone back when I still had to work for him..."  
Had it already been a torture chamber back then? That trade was more than a year ago, could Strange have been building his laboratory then already?  
If he had, how many people had he tortured in there yet? And more importantly, could Oswald have prevented Ed being brought there if he hadn't convinced Maroni to give it away? Was this all his fault?

"Prepare everything Gabe. We need to be ready." He stood up and limped out of the room for the night.  
He had stayed at Beretti's hideout for all this time, using the bed of the man he had murdered as his own and washing his hands in the sink Beretti had shaved at.  
As he changed his clothes he wondered what his softer self would have thought of how he acted now. He had been horrified of his own memories during his therapies, but because of Ed's gentle words and touches he had become himself again. That and by murdering someone.

Oswald climbed into Beretti's bed and turned off the lights, preparing himself for another night of nightmares.

-

One week later Oswald was hiding in the bushes in front of Arkham's gate. His new followers were waiting behind him, ready to storm the building at the smallest sign of an order from Oswald.  
"Remember, you do not enter the building unless you see my sign or I'm not back in two hours. Do not run in there like a bunch of imbeciles."  
His men nodded and Oswald re-focussed on the courtyard.

He watched the familiar sillouette of Redhead come closer to the gate and unlock it. he pulled at the door and even though he was about five metres away and there was no light except for the moon, he visibly winced a the gate's quiet creaking.

Oswald limped towards the door and followed Redhead inside the courtyard.  
The building loomed over them, promising terror and pain to those who entered unprotected by a contract.  
Oswald looked up to the moon as they got closer and closer to the building's entrance to burn its beauty into his memory should he be caught and kept away from the moon- and sunlight forever.

He shook his head and stared at the double-door ahead determinatedly.  
He had no time to think like that. If he arrived with thoughts like that he might as well leave again.

The corridors inside were exactly as dark and clinical as Oswald remembered.  
He looked around uneasily, almost expecting a bunch of guards to jump out from behind a corner and arrest him.  
To his relief he could hear nothing except for the quiet sound of two pairs of feet moving over the metal floor and see nothing except for flickering lights and the read hair in front of him

Readhead lead him down a corridor like any other and came to an aprupt halt.  
Oswald looked around and tried to understand why, taking in the completely ordinary walls and the door leading to a corridor Oswald couldn't see.  
"Why are we stopping? Is there a problem?", Oswald hissed, mindful of his sharp voice cutting through the silence.

Readhead ignored him and approached one of the walls in front of them, pulling out a key from his pocket. Oswald stayed at the door, worriedly checking the corridor for anyone who might still be up at this hour.  
He had checked the guards' routines beforehand, technically no one should be here now, but Oswald couldn't help but worry anyway.

"Mr. Penguin."  
Oswald turned towards Redhead, who was gesturing towards an elevator that hadn't been there before.  
He limped towards it and stepped inside. Redhead pulled a lever on the wall and the elevator started moving downwards.

There still weren't any sounds around them except for the mechanics of the elevator, but nonetheless Oswald felt an odd feeling of dread taking over him he couldn't explain.  
The lights flickered repeatedly, slowly becoming more clinical the further down they went.

At last the elevator came to a halt.  
Redhead pulled the door open and let Oswald outside, handing him a set of keys.  
"Block BI is down the hallway. Turn right after block AS and you're basically there" Redhead whispered and left the same way they had entered. Oswald took a deep breath and moved into the direction Redhead had sent him to. 

Soon enough Oswald reached the block in question.  
He walked up to the first cell door on the left side of the corridor and looked through the window.  
It wasn't Ed.  
Neither was the next.  
Or the one after that.  
Oswald looked through window after window and almost reached the end of the corridor when a tiny sound disrupted his search.

A... knock?  
He slowly turned around to look at the door across the hallway.  
A blond woman watched him through the glass, waving at him when she realized he had noticed her.  
Oswald approached the door cautiously.

The woman smiled at him. She looked.. ordinary. Too ordinary for someone who had presumably lived here for a considerable amount of time. Too clean and soft blond hair framed her too red sharp cheekbones. Her green eyes glistened and her full, non-chapped lips smiled at him too sweetly. Even the nails on the hand she had waved with were clean. She almost looked unreal.  
"Are you looking for someone?"  
Oswald forced down the almost unbearable urge to roll his eyes. "No I'm just browsing. Of course I'm looking for someone!", he snapped, hurriedly looking around directly after. If he would be caught because he had snapped at some woman in a cell he'd never forgive himself.

The woman smiled too sweetly. Was that the only expression she could make? "Maybe I can help you. I've lived here for some time, I know where the Professor keeps all his experiments."  
This time Oswald did roll his eyes.  
"Of course you know that. Next thing you'll tell me you know where exactly I can find Edward Nygma."

She looked at him, slightly alarmed. "Edward? I've seen him. His cell is over there", she pointed at a cell Oswald had already checked and found empty, "but he came out about an hour ago."  
Oswald tapped his foot, expecting her to continue. Did he really have to pull every little bit of information from her??

"Three guards opened his cell and let him out and he hit two of them and ran down the hallway in that-" another point, this time into the direction of the elevator "-direction."  
Oswald could feel pride swelling up inside him. Of course Ed would find a way to escape. He was brilliant, he was a genius. Of course he was alright.

"Strange and Peabody came past here after that and he was with them. Dragged by guards again."  
The pride inside him vanished as a lump formed inside Oswald's throat. If Strange had him, really had him, who knew what he would do to him? Especially after Ed's unsucessful escape?

"Thank you for your help, I'm off." He turned around to follow Ed's torturers into the direction Blondie had pointed to, but he was stopped again.  
"Wait!"  
Now annoyed, Oswald turned back towards her and fixed her with the best glare he had to offer. "What? I don't have time for you."  
"I can help you find him. I told you, I know my way around here. If you go alone you'll never find him and we all might die."

"..What do you mean we all might die? I thought Strange only does some fucked up experiments?"  
She shook her head and quickly continued.  
"There's a bomb. Deep inside Indian Hill. It's meant to destroy any evidence if someone knows too much and there's a program that sets it off if there are too many unregistered strangers inside. I'm guessing you brought your gang with you Mr. Penguin-" she ignored Oswald's shock at her knowledge of his identity "-so I doubt you'll reach him before it goes off."

Oswald was sure the wheels turning in his head were audible even through the thick glass of Blondie's cell. A bomb? Redhead had definetely not mentioned that! He remembered his gang outside of Arkham, now probably already breaking into the building and searching for Redhead to force him to bring them to him, just like they were told.

A thought appeared in Oswald's mind. "How do I know you're telling the truth? You could be lying to make me help you."  
"Are you really willing to risk it? If I'm lying I'm free and you're in the same spot as before, if I'm not... well, I guess we'll be too dead to know the consequences. Including Edward."

As much as Oswald hated to admit it, she had a point. He couldn't risk Ed's death after all they had gone through. He was too important.  
Oswald nodded begrudgingly and gestured Blondie to step away from the door.  
As soon as it was opened she stepped out of her cell filled with stacks of books and stretched her back.  
Now that she wasn't looking through a window at about Oswald's height, he noticed she was a bit taller than he was. But then again, who wasn't?

He nervously checked the corridor again.  
"So where is Ed? And don't you dare lie to me, or you won't live to regret it."  
"He is-" Her explanation was cut off by an alarm ringing loudly over their heads.  
Blondie's eyes widened and she grabbed Oswald's sleeve, pulling him into the direction she knew Ed had been brought to.

"We have half an hour before everything in here blows up, half an hour to find your friend, avoid the guards and get out of here. Well done Mr. Penguin."  
Oswald ignored the sarcastic and hostile edge to her tone in favour of cursing his idiotic new employees. Couldn't they wait for two hours?? Then again, he should have known members of Beretti's family wouldn't be up to the task.

Soon enough the prisoners slash experiments inside the cells noticed the alarm too and reacted to it. They screamed and, for lack of a better word, roared almost louder than the alarm.  
Oswald and the blond woman ran off, praying no one would notice them despite the obvious differences to he guards in clothing and demeanour.  
Several guards came running down the hallway, some prepared to silence the prisoners, some to run for their lives, knowing what the alarm meant, but no one paid the blond woman or the black haired mob boss any mind.

Just when Oswald's breath started to leave him and the pain in his burst knee became almost unbearable, they stopped in front of a door aside from the usual monotony of repeating cell doors. It resembled the one leading to Oswald's "therapy room" back when he had still been an inmate.

"The Professor brings all his psychological experiments down here. If Edward is alive, he should be in here."  
She looked at him cautiously and unlocked the door with Oswald's key.

The first thing Oswald could see was a strange green mist filling up the room. Unlike Blondie Oswald coughed into his hand as it escaped through the wide open door.

Oswald raised his head.  
His vision was still slightly blurry, but even through the coughing-induced tears in his eyes he could clearly see the person curled up on the floor across the room.  
All the pain in his leg was forgotten as he ran up to Ed, intent on pulling him into a fierce hug, but he stopped short when he saw Ed's tear stained face and his hopeless expression.  
He gently placed a hand on the other's shoulder, fear for Ed's life creeping through his body.

"Ed? Are you alright?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who do you think "Blondie" is?? ;D
> 
>  
> 
> EDIT: I'm having problems writing the next chapter (writer's block, lack of motivation, etc), so I'm sorry if you've been waiting and nothing new is coming :( It should be up pretty soon tho


	10. Inferno

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK (writer's blocks are terrible)  
> This is the first chapter written from both perspectives in more than one scene, so I hope you like it  
> Enjoy :D

Ed unconsciously leant into the warm touch on his shoulder.  
He was sure this was just another hallucination, first showing him kindness and then aprupt cruelty. There was no use of paying it any attention if he was going to be disappointed once again anyway.  
But still, the warmth on his shoulder, the first non-hostile contact Ed had felt in weeks proved to be too irresistable not to accept it.  
He looked up into the face of whoever was talking to him.

Both the hallucinations of Oswald and Kristen looked different, but it was still unmistakingly them.  
She had blond hair and wasn't wearing glasses, but the rest was pretty much the same. It suited her. She stood by the door, a vaguely annoyed and nervous look on her face.  
The alarm that had started somewhere during his last hallucination still rang out above their heads, guards running and shouting outside.  
Ed's attention soon snapped back to Fake-Oswald, who was kneeling in front of him, not paying attention to his knee but still mindful not to put too much pressure on it. Even the version in Ed's mind was easy to read but still so unfathomable.  
His hair was more, for the lack of a better word, spiky than Ed was used to. It was clean and fell into his forehead almost artistically, slightly sweaty at the roots. His usually pale face was flushed, specs of red covering his cheeks, painting them in a lovely pink colour. His breath came out harshly and unevenly and his eyes glistened with fear, worry and relief.

Ed had never seen a more beautiful human being than Oswald in that moment.

Too bad this was just another hallucination.  
He forced himself to lean back against the wall and pushed Fake-Oswald's hand away from him. This guise of intimacy between him and a man that was actually miles away hurt too much to endure.  
The blatant hurt on the face that had followed him in his dreams for the last weeks, no, months was almost just as bad. Ed reminded himself he wasn't real.

"Alright. Get on with it." "Ed, I don't-" "Stop it 'Oswald'." He mimicked quotation marks with his fingers. "You and Kristen are here again to tell me how worthless I am aren't you? Don't waste my time acting like you care."

Oswald's expression turned from confused hurt to shocked understanding.  
"Ed, it's me. I'm here. I'm real. We can leave, we can go home."  
Ed scoffed and forced down the spark of hope caused by Oswald's words. That was all Ed had wanted since the Professor had made him that offer back when he and Oswald had just met. All he wanted was to leave this cursed place, arm in arm with Oswald. But there was no use in getting your hopes up if they were going to be crushed anyway.

"You can't be real Oswald. You're gone forever, happily living without me. Just like I told you to." Ed couldn't keep the bitter tone out of his voice. "You left me forever and Kristen is dead. Ghosts aren't real Oswald."

Ed was prepared for cruelty, for malicious words cutting through his already torn apart heart, for a storm of insults.  
But he wasn't prepared for be crushed in a forceful but somehow still gentle hug.  
Two gentle but strong arms embraced him and pulled their owner towards him. He reciprocated the hug before he could catch himself. The warmth inside and out of his body was too tempting and inviting.  
Despite his better judgement Ed let his head rest on the hallucination's hair.  
He could feel the bones in Oswald's back against his arms, his shoulder blades moving accordingly to his arms' movements. The man sighed into Ed's neck and burried his nose in his shoulder.  
Something soft and slightly chapped pressed against his cheek. A storm of heat and electicity cursed through Ed's body. He could feel his face heat up and his stomach turning in ways that were entirely unknown to him.  
Could hallucinations posess a scent and touch able to drown out all the terrible memories and thoughts inside a person's head? Could they provide warmth against months of cold and psychological torture?  
Ed didn't care. All he knew was that he never wanted to leave these arms ever again. He burried his nose in Oswald's soft hair and that sweet, familiar scent drowned out any doubt still lingering in his heart.

It was him.  
It had to be him.

"How... how are you... here..?"  
Oswald backed away a little to smile smugly but still firmly held on to Ed's arms. "I still had some old friends I could ask for help." The dark glint in Oswald's eyes intensifyed the fluttering in Ed's stomach.  
However vague that answer was, it was enough for him. Knowing Oswald was alright and here to save him still seemed like wishful thinking, but now that he knew it was real it didn't matter how exactly Oswald got here.

"I don't want to interrupt you two lovebirds, but we really need to go. We have less than 15 minutes left."  
"Right! We need to hurry, before this all blows up around us." Oswald pulled Ed up to his feet and helped him walk towards the door, his hand carefully placed at the small of his back, as if he was prepared to catch Ed should he collapse.  
Ed stared unblinkingly at what he had believed to be a hallucination of Kristen.  
But if Oswald could see her, did that mean she was... alive? But how?  
For the first time since she and Oswald had entered the room, Ed looked at her. Really looked at her. At her sharp cheekbones, prominent chin and green eyes. At the blond hair framing her rosy cheeks and the half annoyed, half kind twist of her mouth.  
There was no doubt. He was staring into the face of his first love Kristen Kringle.  
But how was this possible?

"K..Kristen?"  
She looked at him, a sweet but confused smile on her full lips.  
"No, my name is Isabella."

\---

Oswald couldn't tear his eyes away from Ed's face.  
Just seconds ago it had been full of fear and hopelessness, convinced he wouldn't care to save him, to sacrifice his freedom for him.  
Oswald watched as Ed's face broke out into a soft smile and his eyes started to glisten when he realised Oswald was real. He watched as his eyebrows turned upwards and his cheeks reddened.

He also watched the look of silent adoration on Ed's face when he looked at this blond woman, who apparently looked exactly like his ex. Who he had killed, by the way.

"K..Kristen?"  
This simple question, barely even that, came crushing down on Oswald's heart. He watched Blondie, no, _Isabella_ , respond accordingly. A soft smile played around her lips, mirroring Ed's own.  
Oswald felt sick.

"How much time do we have left before the bomb goes off again?" "About ten minutes" Isabella responded.  
Oswald felt an odd sense of satisfaction at the way Ed's smile faded.  
"A bomb!? Why are we still here if there's a bomb??" He stepped outside, clearly intent on running for his life for the second time that day.  
Oswald and Isabella exchanged a look. She was clearly confused and didn't understand what Ed had meant when he had called her Kristen and why Oswald was so furious, but he wasn't too keen on explaining it to her.  
He had known taking her with him would bring nothing but trouble.

"I advise you to return to the psychology room. All three of you."  
Oswald looked around the corner of the door to see Ed, who had stopped apruptly at the sight of the blocked hallway.  
Strange was accompanied by three guards, all of them armed with tasers, all of them looked strong enough to knock out a bear if they tried.  
Oswald, Ed and Isabella were almost polar opposites. Obviously none of them was an expert in hand-to-hand combat and none of them carried a weapon worth mentioning except for the tiny knife hidden in Oswald's pant leg. He cursed his past self for not bringing a gun.

But to hell with that.  
Oswald had come so far, he had found Ed alive, and even though the way he smiled at Isabella felt like he was being violently stabbed with a harpoon, he would rather die than see him get hurt again.  
The way he had been curled up on the floor, tears on his face and without any hope of ever seeing the sunlight again was too much to endure for Oswald.

He approached the guards who took on a more defensive stance, ready to fight them with all he had, even if it meant his own death, but a loud gunshot stopped him from doing so.

He flinched and stared unblinkingly at the collapsing body in front of him. The guard's head, or what was left of it, dropped to the floor, making way for Gabe, who was standing behind him.

Oswald smiled grimly and turned back towards Ed and Isabelle. Seeing them together, even just standing next to each other, stung like hell but he wasn't going to let that show on his face.  
"I told you I still had some old friends."

The way Ed looked at him was enough to make him feel light headed.  
His smile, previously able to light a fire in Oswald's chest and make him feel like he was flying, now felt like it was mocking him.  
But nonetheless, it was still the most beautiful thing Oswald had ever seen.

_Dammit, I love this man_

\---

Ed's eyes were fixed on the scenery in front of him.  
The other guards facing the man who had killed their collegue, obviously one of Oswald's, their faces half consumed by fear and half by determination.  
The huge man raising his hand once again, unblinkingly firing two more shots at their heads.  
Strange flinching and ducking, realizing he had lost the high ground, being grabbed before he had the chance to run away.

And admidst it all was Oswald, no, _The Penguin_ , a dead body at his feet, his smile expressing all the pent up rage and frustration he was still hiding inside, a spray of blood adorning his pale face.  
His previous kill had been magnificent, but this... this was power.  
Ed could feel his heartbeat skyrocketing, heat rushing through his body. He couldn't help but huff out a delighted laugh.

Oswald gestured towards their saviour and set off into the direction he knew the elevator was in, not waiting for the others to follow him.  
Ed followed shortly after, Isabella directly behind him. Behind them was the gangster Ed was pretty sure was Gabe, pulling a whimpering Strange with him.  
Even though, or maybe because Oswald was the one who had done all the work, Ed felt powerful.  
More gang members joined them, all lining up behind them, making Oswald the obvious leader of their group.  
This new display of Oswald's power caused another wave of heat to wash over his body. Ed couldn't keep his eyes off him.

Soon enough they reached the elevator, Isabella practically bouncing nervously. "Five minutes." He laid his hand on her shoulder reassuringly and she covered it with her own, smiling another sweet and grateful smile.  
Ed didn't notice Oswald's expression, twisted in grief and pain.

The elevator was just as small as Ed remembered from all those weeks ago. Him, Oswald, Isabella, Strange and Gabe barely all fit inside.  
The other gangsters seemed to notice as well and started shouting and clawing at them through the gate, which Oswald had pulled shut the second the last one of them had entered.  
By now everyone knew of the bomb and they all knew they didn't have enough time to wait for the elevator to come back down.  
"Don't leave us here Boss! We did everything you wanted, even when you killed Mr. Angelo!"  
All they got from Oswald was a sarcastic look of pity and a wave goodbye.  
This was the real Penguin and he was ly beautifully ruthless.

-

They didn't waste any time. Once the elevator stopped, they started running.  
Even in the regular Arkham the alarm was still ringing loudly and unrelentlessly, aggravating the patients and prompting the guards to run for their lives.  
Ed briefly considered freeing some of them, remembering how much time he had spent with them, but a brief "two minutes" was enough to cast that thought aside.  
He did see some open doors both in Indian Hill and in Arkham, so some of them might have made it to safety.

The burst open the door and ran towards the car still parking on the street. Oddly enough none of the guards seemed to have thought of taking it.  
Gabe threw Strange in the trunk and got into the driver's seat, leaving the back to the other three.  
He pressed down on the gas pedal and they drove off, leaving behind a cloud of exhaust fumes.

"Five" Ed's gaze was fixed on the back window.

"Four" He could see Oswald doing the exact same next to him.

"Three" He watched Arkham become smaller and smaller.

"Two" He wondered if they would even make it outside of the explosion radius in time.

"One" The anticipation and tension was thick enough to cut it with a knife.

 

The sound was too loud for Ed to truly hear it. He felt it vibrating in his head and mind and clasped his hands over his ears.  
The fire consumed Ed's whole vision. It was bright and hot, fueled by the dozens of people still inside.  
They were far enough away to be safe from the fire to not burn alive, but Ed could still feel the heat on his face.  
He and Oswald watched in awe as the place they had been tortured, tormented and suffering in for months was turing into a cloud of fire lighting up the night sky, too bright to leave any room for the stars.

It felt like a huge weight was lifted from Ed's shoulders.  
He could finally think clearly again.  
There was no Strange to be afraid of, no Peabody to twist his thoughts into something different, no patients to steal his food and lick his face. He would no longer fall asleep to the screams of the insane.

A relieved grin broke out on his face, even as the car was shaken by the following shockwave.

It was finally over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I love me some explosions.,,,  
> I'm still bitter over Gabe but he'll stay loyal in my fanfics forever, just so you know  
> Isabella was planted by the court and made in indian hill you can't tell me otherwise  
> hope you liked it tho, see you soon!! the next chapter is almost finished..... ;)


	11. My Heart is Full of You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, wiping away a tear: I hope you enjoy the last chapter guys

The car ride dragged on forever.  
The previous delight Ed had felt at the sight of Arkham exploding was slowly fading away the closer they got to Gotham City.  
Ed had no idea what he wanted to do with his life now.  
He was free. He could do anything he wanted, and more.

But.. what  _did_ he want to do?  
Did he want to go back to being a forensic scientist everyone else looked down on? Did he want to spend the rest of his days begging for aknowledgement? Ed quickly threw that thought down a metaphorical well. Not only was it impossible due to his commited murders and his break out out of Arkham, it was more of a step back than forward. He had to find a way forward or he _would_ end up just like a regular crook at the corner of the street.  
What then?  
There were millions of possible professions he could learn and excell at. Finding out what job to do could wait. There were more pressing matters at hand.

Ed turned his attention to the other two people in the back of the car.

When he looked at Isabella, face canted to the side to look out the window at the sparse grass next to the concrete road and blond hair shining in the dim lights of the car, he could see the life he could have once had.  
He could see a small apartment in the middle part of Gotham, the lights inside bright but homely.  
He could see himself, coming home from work, tiredly kissing his wife and hugging his children.  
It was a life long lost, the life he would have shared with Kristen if he hadn't killed her.  
Isabella was the physical representation of that life.  
She was all he had wanted once, but he had proven to be incompatible with all those things. 

When he looked at Oswald, the picture in his head changed dramatically.  
Gone was the apartment and the children, gone was the wife and his work, gone was his stable life.  
Instead there was the smell of blood and gunpowder, a feeling of extasy and power, a life on the run from the police, always scheming for yet another plan full of crimes and destruction. His former self would have done everything to stay away from it.  
But between all that mayham and chaos he could clearly see Oswald.  
Oswald, with his limp and his freckles.  
Oswald, with his soft, uncertain displays of affection and his constant need for control.  
Oswald, with his greasy black hair that kept falling into his forehead and the most beautiful blush when Ed smiled at him.

_I love him_

The realization struck him like a bolt of lightning.  
He loved Oswald.  
How had he not realised that before?? He thought back to all the times he had sacrificed himself for Oswald. He thought back to how mesmerised he was by Oswald, both his appereance and the two personalities he had had the fortune of getting to know. He had risked everything for Oswald, he had voluntarily stayed at Arkham twice to make sure he was safe, he had been prepared to die for him and willingly decided to stay anyway.  
Oswald had been his refuge from all the terror he had felt since he had been incarcerated. The knowledge of being able to come back to him and find comfort in his embrace was the only thing that saved him from truly going insane. Oswald had never judged him for who he was or what he did, not even for killing Kristen, even when he had been brainwashed. Oswald was the only one in the world who truly saw him as he was.  
Oswald was the only one.

Ed smiled softly at Oswald barking orders at his henchman. He would gladly spend his life listening to it if that meant he wouldn't have to leave Oswald again.  
Oswald turned towards Ed, like he was cheking he was okay, catching him staring.  
Ed quickly averted his eyes and let them wander over the dark road outside.  
A thought struck him. What if Oswald didn't feel the same? He liked to think he did, of course, and there had been a few indicators so far, but he couldn't know for sure.  
At least not until Ed would tell him.

\---

Oswald didn't even realise they had entered Gotham until the car stopped, too deep in thought and too enthralled by the smile on Ed's face.

He looked outside the window. They had stopped in front of a very fancy apartment building, just as Gabe had been told.  
Gabe held open the door and Ed stepped outside, not waiting to see him help Isabella out as well, fuelling Oswald's hope before he could push it aside.

Oswald took Isabella's hands in his and smiled at her as gratefully as he could with all the disdain he felt for her.  
"I haven't properly thanked you for helping me find Ed yet, have I. I know I may have been a little harsh to you but please know that I am truly grateful for what you have done to help me."  
She smiled lightly and averted her eyes.  
Oswald let go of her and placed a key in her hands instead. "I have taken the liberty of buying you an apartment. It's not exactly worth the 600.000 I paid, but it's still better than Indian Hill, isn't it?" He gritted his teeth and raised a hand to stop Isabella from voicing any objections to his offer. "Please, Dear, I insist. The money is spent now anyway and I want to show how grateful I really am."

She nodded reluctantly and turned towards Ed. "Edward, do you want to..." A hot fire of rage burned inside Oswald's chest but he swallowed it down as he saw the clueless look on Ed's face. He practically radiated confusion. "I... what?"  
She smiled bitterly, reading the situation correctly. "Nothing. Goodbye Edward. Goodbye Mr. Penguin." She walked up the stairs and closed the door behind her. Oswald breathed out relievedly. The quiet clicking of the door falling shut gave off the sense of finality Oswald had desired.  
Oswald hated having to spend so much money on the woman pushing herself between him and the man he loved with her mere existence, but he did owe her for saving Ed with him. He was a lot of things, but ungrateful was not one of them.  
At least now she was gone from their lifes without a body turning up and making the wrong people ask questions.

"Why do you think she looked like that? Like Miss Kringle, I mean." Oswald shrugged, not wasting any time before getting in the car again. "Strange did a lot of experimenting down there, maybe he found out how to clone people. Wouldn't surprise me honestly."  
Ed didn't reply and got in the car next to Oswald.

\---

Only about twenty minutes later the car stopped once again, this time in front of a inconspicious looking club. Oswald walked up to the front door and made an elaborate gesture with his arms, like he was presenting something, a proud expression on his face.  
"Welcome to the Iceberg Lounge. It's not exactly finished yet but everone is working very hard."  
He pushed open the door, letting Ed enter before him.

Ed could do nothing but stare in wonder, not even able to listen to Oswald babbling on about geografical advantages this club possessed. The main room was way bigger than the small entrance would suggest. It was round and gave off an opera-like athmosphere. The stage and the balcony near the high ceiling only added to that. The walls were made out of what looked like light blue glass. Half of them were, anyway. The other half was still clad in old wooden pannels.

The pride and admiration Ed felt at all Oswald had accomplished in such a short time was almost overwhelming.  
He had been out of Arkham for about three or four weeks and it was very likely that all of his belongings had been stripped off him when he had been incarcerated, just as Ed's had been, and yet he had found the time to bring all this into existance.  
It was nothing short of incredible.

In that moment Oswald reached his side. His explanations of how great the placement of the building was - just outside of the main gang drama but central enough to attract all kinds of criminals and other paying customers - were cut short by him seeing his newer henchmen either sitting around idly or wandering around aimlessly, neither finishing the walls nor stocking up the alcohol, nor doing anything else that might profit him or the club.

Oswald practically marched towards the nearest person he could see, which happened to be a completely drunk arms seller with his head lying on the bar.  
"What the hell is going on here?? Why aren't any of you doing what you were told??"  
Most of the men and women in the room had realised he was back by now and shuffled to their feet, clearly scared of ending up like their former boss. It exited Ed to no end.

The almost black-out drunk at the bar just giggled and raised one of the several almost empty whine bottles like he was doing a toast. "Ye tellem bos!!"  
Oswald slowy turned his full attention towards him. Everyone else in the room shrunk backwards, trying not to draw their boss' rage to them as well.  
"What did you say?"  
"Thes guys don' resbect ya bos. They thing jus because ya gone for ya boyfrend ya gone soft."  
Ed knew the man was drunk beyond his mind but the assumption he was Oswald's boyfriend still sent his heart beating overboard.

Oswald took the bottle from the man's hand and emptied it on the drunk's head who groaned in protest. "Just to make this clear."  
He smashed the bottle on the countertop and pressed the glass against the drunk's throat, who finally seemed to process he was in trouble.  
Ed looked back and forth between the two men exitedly and waited for Oswald to make the cut, breathing a little hard.  
"I do not tolerate any of you slacking off. Especially not if you're drinking away the alcohol we have too little of anway since none of you-" he removed the smashed bottle from the other man's throat and threw it across the room, hitting another one of his henchmen in the gut "-managed to arrange a deal with the people who matter! We don't have time to waste anymore. Now hurry the fuck up and finish this club!"  
Everyone immediately got to work, clearly worried he would throw another bottle.  
The drunk at the bar was giggling again. Oswald took his neck and smashed his head against the countertop.  
"Shut up and take a shower. You have to help the others with the walls."

Oswald turned towards Ed finally and smiled apologetically.  
"I'm sorry you had to see that Ed." Ed waved his hand and smiled. "It's great to see you being back to normal. I.. admire what you did with this place."  
Was that a blush on Oswald's face? Ed was sure he saw his cheeks reddening, but then again he didn't want to resort to wishful thinking.

Oswald lightly hit his shoulder in an almost forcedly friendly fashion and grinned, leaving behind a burning sensation on Ed's skin even through the several layers of clothes they were both wearing.  
"I have some clothes for you in the bedroom, I know those arkham uniforms can get quite drafty."  
He set off to an inconspicious door to the side of the room, gesturing Ed to follow him. Ed complied, the implication of "the bedroom" repeatedly booming inside his ears.

\---

Stupid stupid stupid.  
Why did Oswald keep changing the subject?? Why couldn't he just take a simple compliment without.. ugh why did he have to do that just now???  
He completely blamed Ed for being just too damn attractive for his current incompetence.

Oswald idly gestured towards the suit on his bed once they reached his room.  
"I had it made a few days before I came to get you. I had to guess on the jacket size, I hope it fits."  
Oswald watched as Ed traced the dark green fabric with his fingers. He seemed to struggle with his words, so Oswald wasted no time and retreated out the door.  
"Call me when you're done here. I'll be..." Ed was buttoning open the jacket of his prisoner clothes, paying no mind to Oswald's staring "I'll be downstairs. There's something else I want to show you."  
Ed smiled at him and proceeded shrugging off his jacket.  
Oswald left so quickly he accidentally slammed the door shut behind him.

\---

Ed stared at the suit on the bed in front of him. The dark green fabric would be calling attention to him, but it was dark enough not to look ridiculous. It shimmered in the dim lights of the room, giving off a sense of fluidity.  
It was almost too beautiful to wear it.

Once he was done discarding the scratchy clothes Arkham had made him wear, he pulled on Oswald's new.  
They fit perfectly, almost caressing his body in their softness, but without looking unprofessional. They were easily the most comfortable and the most fitting clothes he had ever worn.

As soon as Ed was finished, he left the room on his search for Oswald.  
Aside from the goons still shuffling through the room, now busy finishing the walls and bar, the club was empty. No Oswald, no Gabe, no one Ed felt confident he could ask.

Ed was just starting to worry when he felt something tug at his elbow. He turned around to come face to face with Oswald, who was smiling at him brightly.  
Ed felt his own face mimic his friend's before he could help it.

"I have a surprise for you. Well, not exactly a surprise but.. I hope you like it anyway."  
He didn't leave Ed any time to guess what he had planned, his grip tight on his elbow, pulling him out the door, towards a stairwell at the back of the building.

Before opening the door to the basement, Oswald held Ed back with a gentle but firm hand on his chest. It felt like it was burning just from the soft touch of Oswald's palm on his new suit. The suit Oswald had bought for him.  
Despite Ed's lack of knowledge concerning the meanings of human expressions he was pretty sure Oswald wanted to say something. His throat was constricting and relaxing several times, his chest was moving heavily and his mouth opened and closed.  
Before Ed could ask what it was, Oswald pulled away and opened the door, and Ed had to stiffle a gasp.

He knew Gabe at taken Strange with them for reasons he wasn't sure of but hoped he would go a certain direction, but this was better than he could have hoped.  
Strange was lying on a metal chair, not too different from the one he had strapped Ed to during their first session of hallucinative gas. He was visibly terrified, sweat literally streaming down his face.  
His hands were shaking, trying to get out of the bonds on his wrists and the cloth in his mouth, but all it did was cut the rope deeper into his skin.  
Holding his breath in anticipation, Ed could hear Strange whimper, even from where he was standing.

Seeing Strange so helpless, so pathetic, was almost extatic for Ed. How many nights had he wondered what the most painful way to take his revenge, how many nights had he imagined cutting open that maniac's body, imagined taking away his mind like he had done with Ed?  
Ed didn't know, and he didn't particularly care either.  
He turned towards Oswald, still in shock. Oswald smiled at him just as ecstatically as Ed felt. "I take it you're happy then? I had a feeling you would but I wasn't certain..."  
Ed pulled Oswald close to him before before he could continue, pressing him close to his chest, breathing into his hair. He couldn't tell if the heat at his cheek was his own blush or if Oswald was just as flustered as he was.

"Thank you Oswald. It's perfect."  
He let go after longer than was probably advisable but Ed didn't care.  
He slowly approached Strange, taking one of the scalpels off the desk next to him. He stood behind his head and bowed down so their eyes were on the same level.  
Ed tapped Strange's chin with the scalpel and grinned at him. "It seems you won't get away with what you did to us afterall. Too bad huh?"  
He lowered the scalpel to the Professor's throat, eliciting some more whimpers from him, but he hesitated.

Ed raised his head again and waved Oswald toward himself.  
He approached Ed, a confused look on his face. "Ed, what-" Ed handed him the weapon and stepped away from their mutual cause of suffering to leave Oswald more room.  
"Seeing how he was the one who made you into... who you were when I met you, and since he tortured you for far longer than me, I think you deserve the honour of making the first cut."

Oswald's face showed nothing but surprised gratitude when he took the scalpel back. Ed came up behind him, looking over his shoulder at Strange, who was squirming in the chair, trying to get away from the scalpel coming dangerously close to his leg.  
His efforts were useless of course, in the next moment the scalpel was burried to the hilt in his thigh.  
Strange cried out, his scream muffled by the cloth in his mouth.

Ed stiffled an exited laugh as he watched Oswald turn the scalpel inside Strange's leg. He stepped closer to his friend and subconsciously laid a hand on his waist to have a better view, oblivous to the shiver going through his friend at the slightest touch.  
Oswald ripped the weapon out of Strange's leg, careful not to cut any arteries. It wouldn't do to end this so soon.  
He laid it back into Ed's waiting hand, who didn't waste any time to reposition himself. Ed cut a long and deep gash into Strange's arm, still standing directly behind Oswald, his hand still on his waist.  
He could hear Oswald sigh and felt him shiver once again, but took it as a sign of happiness, so he didn't stop to see what was causing it.

Once he was done with his work, he distanced himself from the scenery in front of him to take it in all at once.  
Strange was whimpering, covered in his own blood, but it wasn't him that attracted Ed's gaze like a magnet.  
Oswald was breathing heavily, his chest heaving, his cheeks flushed red, the scalpel shaking in his hand.  
Once again, the only thought inside his head the overwhelming beauty of the man in front of him.

Despite the situation at hand Ed couldn't help but think about the confession he still had planned.  
The only way he knew how to talk openly -well, as openly as it could get- about his feelings was through riddles. He didn't know if Oswald liked riddles, but they were the best way to show who a person really was. To solve the riddle is to solve the person posing it afterall. But even then, Ed was still not 100% sure which riddle he could use to confess his feelings. There were just too many riddles about love.  
Rich men need it, wise men know it- no, this was about them, and only them. Some rich or wise men had no business interfering with Ed's feelings, even through a riddle.  
I can start a war or end one- no. He had used that one to tell Dougherty to leave Kristen alone. There was no way he could use that one. There were too many bad memories connected to it.  
I can fill a room but just one heart, I- no, impossible. This one could also mean loneliness and that was the complete opposite of what he wanted to say.  
I can't be bought, but I can be stolen with one glance. I'm worthless to one, but priceless to two. Perfect! It perfectly conveyed everything he wanted to say, it had no other, more negative meaning-  
But as Ed watched Oswald make the last cut to end Strange's life, a swift cut through his Carotid Artery, the spray of blood adorning his face, he couldn't think straight anymore.

"I love you."

Ed clasped both his hands in front of his mouth as soon as the words escaped him.  
Oswald froze. He was still turned towards the now limp body of Strange, the scalpel still in his hand.  
He slowly turned towards Ed, who was still standing directly behind him, his limp less heavy on his walk than usual. His mouth was gaping open and he seemed to want to say something once again, but the words seemed stuck in his pale throat.

Ed lowered his hands from his mouth and let them hang limply from his side. Uncertain what to do next, he looked at Oswald, waiting for him to say something, anything.

Finally Oswald's throat seemed to work again. "Do.... D-do you mean that..?"  
His face didn't give Ed any hints about his thoughts.  
_You're already screwed, might as well go all the way._  
Ed nodded slowly, feeling his cheeks heat up in a mix of embarassment and regret, but also hope and anticipation.

Oswald gently, almost cautiously laid his hands on Ed's shoulders.  
Ed held his breath, too enraptured by the movement of Oswald's eyes and lips and lashes and brows and hands to remember how to breathe.

The last thing Ed remembered was Oswald rising to his tiptoes, his hands sneaking up behind his head, taking hold of his hair.

Then all he could feel was a soft pressure on his lips and Oswald's chest pressing against his own.  
His eyes fell shut on their own accord as he breathed in Oswald's scent, now a thousand times more prominent and delicious than before.

Before he could return the kiss, Oswald let go of him and lowered his head, his cheeks aflame and his breath coming out shakily. His hands were still in his hair. Ed could feel them shaking.  
Ed gaped at him, unbelievingly. Could this mean... Did Oswald feel..... Was his love requited for once in his life?

"I-I'm sorry, I-"  
Ed cut him off by pulling him up again, meeting Oswald's lips with his own in a desperate but slow kiss.  
"Don't ever apologise for this" Ed whispered against his lips, never leaving more than a mew millimetres of space between them.  
His hands were wrapped around Oswald's waist, pulling him as close as was physically possible.

The feeling was electrifying.  
Oswald's fingers were playing with his hair, still nervous but just as euphoric and overjoyed as Ed was.  
He whimpered softly against Ed's lips, sending an electric wave throughout Ed's whole body.

After a minute, or hour, or eternity, Oswald let go and lowered himself to stand normally again.  
His face was completely flushed now and his breath came out in short huffs, if at all.  
He smiled up at Ed, his eyes glazed over with unshed tears.

"I love you too Ed."

He let his head fall onto Ed's chest and sighed. Ed placed his hands on his love's back and pulled him closer.  
One cannot deny love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~This is the end~  
> Man this was a wild ride. Thank you to everyone who left comments and kudos and bookmarked it and everyone who just read it and liked it!!!!  
> I completely blame 2x9 and the promo-pictures for 3x19 for this last scene.  
> (writing people kissing is hard)  
> Did you find all references and quotes I hid in the story? ;D  
> Maaaaaan I don't want this to be over yet :( I had so much fun writing it and reading your comments and fuck  
> I don't know if I'll write another multi-chapter fanfiction one day but if I do I hope I'll see some of you there :)  
> BYE BYE AND THANK YOU


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